Tartarus Rising
by ExiXIII
Summary: A year after the fall of the earth mother, Tartarus, the dark god of the yawning abyss, begins to wake. Shall he regain his full power, he will lay waste to the world, both mortal and myth alike. Seven demigods shall rise and defeat Tartarus to save the world.
1. I - New Campers

_ExiXIII: _**Okay, I've rewritten Tartarus Rising. I thought the first one was crap because the plot was progressing **_**too **_**quickly and then I had new things to add to the plot, so I had to change chapter order and the way the chapters were written. Because of this, I had to delete the entirety of the first Tartarus Rising. This is how I redeem myself. Enjoy!**

**Remember the time I asked you to fill out an OC form? Well, this is the story I promised you. It might be a bit slow at first, but it'll get better with succeeding chapters, I promise. Anyways, happy reading! Translations will be in an A/N at the end of each chapter should there be anything that needs translating.**

* * *

It's been a year since the prophecy of the seven has been fulfilled. The earth mother, Gaea, has been defeated and sent back to her eternal slumber. The Greek and Roman camps have already set aside their rivalry and the gods' conflicting personas have been appeased. The world knows peace once more.

Miguel Heidrich, a son of Hecate and the counselor of the Hecate Cabin after Lou Ellen's unfortunate death, woke up earlier than his half-siblings as he was already accustomed to waking early and got out of bed, almost stepping on a sigil that would have set his hair on fire if he had set it off.

He went over to his dresser and changed into his usual outfit – a white undershirt underneath a back-and-white checker long-sleeved button-down shirt with denim jeans and combat boots. He put on his eyeglasses and stepped out of the cabin, which he rarely ever does.

The sky was tinted orange by the first light of day. A cool breeze blew across camp, making the plants and flowers sway in a mesmerizing motion. It was a nice day and since he had nothing much to do anyways; he might as well take a stroll across camp before the breakfast horn sounds.

He passed by Cabin 21, otherwise known as the Boreas Cabin. It was built a month after the Second Titan War, when Zethes and Calais came to Camp Half-Blood as the messengers of Boreas. The god of the northern wind sent them there to claim his daughter. After she was claimed, the Hephaestus Cabin added the construction of the new cabin to their queue.

The cabin itself was made of a cobblestone foundation and cedar wood painted a bluish-white with snowflake designs on the walls. The whitewashed porch was covered with snow and the wooden railings were covered with ice. Icicles hung from the blue tiled roof and frost coated the windows, making intricate patterns on the glass. A cold gust of wind blew around the cabin at all times, which is why he has to put up a ward to protect him against the cold every time he comes here.

The incantation was simple. All he had to do was press his index and middle finger on his wrist and mutter: "_Επικαλεστεί: Κρύο Αντίσταση._" An orange rune glowed faintly on the spot where he touched his wrist then it vanished after a short while. The cold that he felt was immediately replaced with cozy warmth like sitting near a fireplace during the winter.

The door of the cabin opened and a girl stepped out. She had snow-white and short, choppy, blonde hair covered by a Toronto Maple Leafs cap, her favorite hockey team. She was wearing an orange Camp Half-Blood shirt underneath her gray hoodie with black skinny jeans which revealed her fit figure and red converse shoes. It was Astrid Abadeer, the lone demigod child of Boreas in camp and a close friend of his.

"Hello, Miguel." She said wither usual straight face and monotone voice. She approached and frost began to form on his glasses, greatly distorting his vision. He had to take off his glasses and wipe the lenses with the hem of his shirt. "What brings you here?"

"I just came along to say hi." Miguel replied as he put on his glasses and pushed them up. The lenses fogged up almost immediately. "Is there anything wrong with that?" He added as he tried to wipe off the fog on his glasses.

"There's nothing wrong about that." She answered, retaining her monotone voice. "It's just that you rarely leave your cabin and it's not every day you decide to step out of the shadows." She regarded him with her cold, ice-blue eyes. "Where do you plan to go this time?"

"Nowhere in particular." He answered.

"In that case," she said as she jabbed her thumb at her cabin in an invitation. "Why don't you join me for a cup of-"

She was cut off mid-sentence by a voice behind them. "Heidrich!" The voice called out and Miguel turned around to find the speaker. There speaker was Alex McField, who leaning on a tree. He was a scrawny boy who looked around fourteen years old with pale skin, long, curly hair and hazel-colored eyes. He was wearing a black shirt with khaki shorts and white sneakers.

"Alex," Miguel replied. "What is it?"

"Chiron needs you at the infirmary." The son of Hades answered then melted back into the shadows.

"There goes my morning…" Miguel muttered exasperatedly as he turned and headed for the Big House to answer the centaur's summons.

* * *

He arrived at the infirmary to find Will Solace and Chiron standing over a girl who lay on one of the beds.

Will's head turned to face Miguel as he entered. "Ah, you're here." He gestured toward the bed. "This one's a magical wound; I can't heal it with physical means…"

Miguel approached the bed. The girl that lay on it looked no older than thirteen. She had fair skin, silvery-blonde hair tied in a ponytail and two scars on her left cheek, probably from a monster attack. Her tattered outfit was made of a white frock under a silver jacket with blue jeans and black boots. She must have encountered a monster on the way here. He put two of his fingers to her neck and to her forehead to diagnose her of any magical ailments.

"Yeah, that's not good…" He concluded as he withdrew his hand. "How did you find her?"

"We found her near the barrier." Chiron gestured at a wolf cub that lay curled up beside the bed. "This wolf cub was with her when we found her."

He placed his palm on the girl's chest and muttered a chant to alleviate her of her many curses. "That should do it."

The girl's eyes fluttered open, revealing silver irises. She sat up and put her hand to her head, as if she had a headache. "Where… am I?"

"You are in Camp Half-Blood." Chiron answered. "Tell me, what is your name?"

"Lumina, Lumina Starling." She answered then looked around. "Where's Syllaby?"

The wolf cub barked and leaped onto the bed and curled up in her lap. Lumina stroke the cub's silver fur.

"You can go now." Chiron dismissed Miguel, which was good to hear since breakfast will be starting soon. He left the infirmary and as he reached for the door, the breakfast horn sounded.

"_Sprechen des Teufels._" He mumbled as he walked out the door.

* * *

As he walked toward the mess hall to go get breakfast, he ran into Nathan Byrn, a son of Hermes. He was slim and lanky with slightly tan skin and black, spikey, neck-length hair that was worn under a fedora. His outfit consisted of a plain white shirt, cargo pants and running shoes and gloves.

"Oh, sorry there! I can't talk now, bye!" He said quickly as he sprinted off, parkouring over obstacles in his path.

Miguel's hand immediately flew to his pocket. Yup, his wallet's gone. "Nathan, get back here, you!" He exclaimed toward the direction Nathan ran off to while shaking his fist in the air. Nathan was already out of sight, so there's no use in trying to chase him considering the fact that he runs a lot faster than Miguel. _I'll just go after him later. _He decided as he continued down the path toward the mess hall.

He reached the mess hall. Most of his cabin was already there. "Hey, there you are!" A female voice called from the Hecate table. "Where have you been?"

The speaker was his half-sister, Aine O'Durren. She was three years older than he was and she was blessed by Artemis, though she isn't a hunter. She was about five inches taller than he was with flawless alabaster skin and a slender build. Her eyes were a striking dark hazel and her silky and lustrous jet-black hair reached down to her lower waist. Her entire outfit was white with an off-the-shoulder top, four silver bangles on her arm, thigh-length shorts and a pair of inch wedges.

"The infirmary." He answered as he took a seat on his cabin's table. "Chiron and Will found a little girl on the outskirts of the camp."

Aine pointed to something behind him. "Is that her?"

Miguel turned around to find Lumina having a friendly chat with Kamaria Henderson. Kam was almost as tall as he was even though she is two years younger than him. Her Hephaestus lineage must have given her a height advantage. She had a chocolate-colored skin tone, and even her eyes and her curly hair were the color of dark chocolate. She was wearing an orange camp shirt, denim jeans, combat boots and green bandanna on her head that she never took off.

"Yes. She said that her name was Lumina Starling."

"She's a huntress?" Aine questioned.

"She's a huntress?" He replied with surprise then took a bite of pancake. "She doesn't look like a huntress…"

"She radiates an aura most hunters have." Aine pointed out. "I thought you-"

"Hey, you!" A female voice called out from behind them. The speaker strode towards the Hecate table and grabbed one of the Hecate campers by the collar of his shirt. The bully was a tall person with a figure that made her look like she could snap your neck easily. She had slightly tan skin and her brown hair was shirt and jagged with a few neon orange streaks in it. Her outfit which consisted of a black shirt under a plaid vest with ripped denim jeans, converse shoes and red, fingerless leather gloves gave her more of an intimidating atmosphere.

"Veronica Morris," Miguel began. "It's too early to start a fight. Put him down _now _before I turn you into a frog or something."

Her brown eyes immediately homed in on his position. "Heidrich," she snarled. "This is none of your business."

"By messing with one of my half-siblings, I make it my business."

With a low growl, Veronica let go of her victim, who was shaking with panic. "What had happened that made you so worked up anyways, besides the fact that you are a daughter of Ares."

She shot him a murderous glare and she brandished a big, white disk with valentine patterns on it. "You see this?" She growled as she pointed at the disk. "This used to be my shield! That little brat there did this!"

Miguel had to resist the urge to laugh. He placed his palm on the shield and muttered an incantation. "_Επικαλεστεί: Επαναφορά._" The valentine pattern on the shield changed into an emblem of a flying boar. "There. Problem solved." Veronica returned to the Ares table.

He tried to take a sip out of his goblet only to find out that the orange juice inside it was frozen solid. That only meant one thing. He turned to his left to see Astrid sitting with Iridian Blackwell, a daughter of Thanatos and the only one at camp.

Iridian was a pale girl with blue eyes and black, waist-length hair that was always tied in a ponytail. She was wearing an orange Camp Half-Blood shirt under a black leather jacket with denim jeans and black boots. It would seem that she was talking to herself, but Miguel knew better. She was talking to a ghost of a former camper.

"Hey, no fair!" A female voice came from the same table. Miguel had to move a bit to get a better angle. Four more characters came into view: Anastasiya Makarov, Ryan Blaze, Katherine Jennifer Thorn and Caspian Rivera. It looked like they were gambling with dice and betting drachmas.

"Gambling against a son of Tyche probably wasn't the best thing to do." He said. Katherine turned to face him with an awkward grin.

She was skinny and lean with slightly tanned skin and there was a tattoo on her hips that read 'Freedom'. Her eyes were a honey-amber brown and her straight, long, iron-flat hair was auburn with red highlights. She was wearing an orange tank top under an unbuttoned utility jacket with shorts and battered converse shoes. "Especially when you're playing against Cass." She agreed with a hint of a British accent.

Caspian smirked. He was a tall person with olive-toned skin from his Italian ancestry. His lustrous and voluminous hair was wavy and his eyes were a deep brown. He was wearing a plain black shirt with denim jeans and leather loafers. Stacks of drachmas were on the table before him, he must have won those from the gambles which he had won, being a son of the goddess of fortune and all.

Miguel nodded at their game. "Yeah, good luck with that."

Katherine pulled a cigarette from her pocket and lit it with a lighter which she also pulled from her pocket. She exhaled a puff of smoke and Anastasiya coughed. She waved aside the smoke. Kat smiled slyly in response.

Anastasiya was a daughter of Iris. She was a slender girl with an athletic figure; her skin was slightly tan and her red hair was long and layered on the right side, but cut short on the left side. Her eyes were yellow, though she is no Titan nor is she possessed by an Eidolon. Her outfit consisted of a black tank top under a dark red crop track jacket, skinny jeans and knee-length boots.

Katherine rose from the table and went outside the mess hall to continue smoking. Ryan waved his hand and a small breeze blew away the smoke that lingered.

He was a slightly tan guy with electric blue eyes and jet-black spiky hair, which led Miguel to think if he was Jason and Thalia's long lost brother. He was wearing a plain white shirt with dark blue denim jeans and blue sneakers. There was a black bracelet with small stars on his left arm, which would have made him look like a sissy if not for the dragon tattoo and his muscular build that said otherwise. Everyone wonders as to why someone like him wears an accessory like that.

Chiron entered the dining pavilion and stomped his hooves on the floor to get everyone's attention. "May I have everyone's attention, please?" Everyone turned to face the centaur. "As you all know, tonight we will be playing Capture the Flag." The mess hall was soon filled with the sounds of hooting and excited cheering. "Tonight's game will be special." Chiron continued despite the noise. The crowd silenced after the centaur said the word 'special'. "Tonight, all cabins will be playing in a take-and-hold game. That is all." Chiron left the mess hall after he made the announcement.

The atmosphere was soon filled with excitement and enthusiasm. People were already chatting with each other regarding tonight's match of Capture the Flag and the Ares cabin was already boasting about how they will win. Annabeth was already planning a strategy.

"A game of take-and-hold Capture the Flag with twenty-two cabins…" Miguel mused. "This should be fun."

* * *

_**TRANSLATIONS**_

**GREEK: **Επικαλεστεί: Κρύο Αντίσταση – Invoke: Cold Resistance; Επικαλεστεί: Επαναφορά – Invoke: Restore  
**GERMAN: **Sprechen des Teufels – Speak of the devil


	2. II - A Sound Plan

_ExiXIII: _**This version's better than the first? It is? Glad to hear that I didn't delete the previous story and ended up making things worse. Heh. Sorry if this chapter's shorter than the last, I already told you that I would have to change chapter order.**

* * *

That night, they played capture the flag. Chiron announced the teams. On Team Alpha were the Hecate, Boreas, Iris, Apollo, Artemis, Hephaestus, Hebe, Hermes, Hades and Demeter cabins. On Team Beta were the Athena, Ares, Thanatos, Tyche, Nike, Aphrodite, Nemesis, Dionysus, Zeus and Poseidon cabins. The only cabins that didn't play were the Hera Cabin – for obvious reasons – and the Hypnos Cabin – they were all asleep at the time.

"The Athena and the Ares kids on the same team…" Miranda said nervously. "That can't be good."

"They have a cabin full of strategists," Will noted. "And warriors."

"Annabeth's gonna wipe the floor with our butts…" Connor said.

"Not helping." Travis answered.

"We're gonna lose." Leo said in surrender.

Chiron called the team leaders which were Will Solace and Annabeth Chase. Will disbanded from the group and went to the meeting site. Miguel watched as Will and Annabeth had a not-so-friendly conversation with each other. Will returned to the group with a determined look on his face.

"What did she say?" Lumina asked.

"She said that whatever strategy we come up with, she'll do better." Will answered then pounded his fist on his palm. "We'll prove her wrong."

"What do we do?" Alex asked.

Will was speechless. "I don't know." He finally said.

"I can't believe _you_ were chosen as the leader." Miguel grumbled.

"I'm not very good with strategy…" Will answered, scratching his head.

"Then allow me to draw up a strategy that will guarantee us victory." Miguel volunteered. "Gather!"

Astrid, Anastasiya, Will, Lumina, Leo, Piper, Connor and Travis, Alex and Miranda, the counselors of the cabins of the Alpha Team, all gathered near the blue flag. "So, what are we gonna do?" Piper asked.

"The way I see it, we have a chance to win." Miguel said. "We just have to utilize our assets to our advantage."

"How do you suggest we do that?" Astrid asked.

"_Επικαλεστεί: εποπτεία μάχης._" The mist rolled in and collected underneath Miguel. It soon turned into a holographic 3-D map of the forest. There were blue and red blips on the map, each blip symbolizing one person and its color symbolizing its alignment. The blue blips were collected near the blue flag marker – that's them, and the red blips looked like they were discussing strategy – that's the other team.

"_Nun liebe Kinder gebt fein acht._" He said with a bit of an undertone and shifted his focus on the holographic map. "As we all know, the Athena and Ares cabins are on the same side, which doesn't bode well."

"What's your point?" Alex said impatiently.

"Given our current forces," Miguel answered then looked around. The team was putting on their armor and some were swinging their swords or filling their quivers. "We can probably prepare a strategy of illusion and deceit."

He pointed at an area on the map and it automatically zoomed in, revealing a multitude of trees and plants, a spot of the forest that was denser than the rest. "We can set a trap here, something the Betas will _never_ know about."

"How do we do that?" Miranda asked.

"Perfect timing, Miranda. I was just about to mention you." He answered then returned his focus to the map. "Your cabin will use the vegetation here to ensnare any Beta sucker who dares get close."

"It's too obvious." Leo commented. "They'll see campers being wedgied by plants."

"That's where the Iris cabin comes in." Miguel answered then turned to look at Anastasiya, who was leaning on a nearby tree and humming the tune to 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' while she was swinging her machete. She must have noticed his that his attention was directed at her since she stopped humming and faced him. "Anastasiya, your cabin will be the ones to hide the trap. Make them think that there is nothing here."

She nodded in response and continued humming.

His gaze returned to the map. "Now that we have the trap, we need the bait." He looked to the Stoll brothers. "That's your job."

"What?" They exclaimed in unison.

"Your cabin will lure the Betas into the trap." Miguel continued, despite their protests. "You will do what you do best: prank them, harass them, and make them run after you."

Their protests immediately turned into excited squeals as wide grins crept across their faces. "Will do." Connor said. "With pleasure." Travis said. They started talking amongst themselves, making plans for what kind of practical jokes they're going to pull. Connor started filling up a water balloon with shaving cream while Travis donned his special pickpocketing gloves.

"That's the trap done; all we need to talk about now is our defenses." Miguel said then his attention returned to the holographic map. The red blips were already forming ranks and some were already taking positions at the flanks. "Looks like we're going to need a good defense."

"Looks like they're ready to run us over…" Leo said.

"Miranda, Anastasiya, Connor, Travis, you get your cabins to their positions now, but make sure that nobody sees you or the entire strategy is busted." Miguel instructed and the counselors of the Demeter, Iris and Hermes cabins and they ran off to their groups to lead them to the designated site.

"Now, the defense…" His eyes scanned the battlefield map, thinking of the routes the enemy team can and _will _take. "Here and here." He said as he pointed at the left and right flank. "That's where our defensive will be. Apollo, Hebe and Hecate cabins will be the ones on the defensive."

"How will we do that?" Will questioned.

"Lay suppressing fire on the enemy if they get close. That should scare them off or at least slow them down." Miguel answered. "You get to choose now, commander. You can stay and defend the flag or you can help in taking it."

"As leader," Will answered with a regal tone. "I will stay and defend the flag."

"Very well. The Hebe cabin will assist in the defense." Miguel replied. "Aine!" He called out and Aine O'Durren approached. She was in full battle gear, her silver bow slung over her shoulders and her hunting knives in sheaths strapped to her waist.

"Take the Hecate cabin and lay an illusion here." He pointed at the ambush site. "Hide the defense unit and ambush the Betas if they come close."

"Why don't you do it?" Aine asked.

"I have a different niche." He answered. "I will be hiding the people who will take the flag."

Aine nodded and headed for the Hecate cabin and took them to the ambush site.

"I see one flaw in your plan…" Will pointed out. "It's too sneaky. They'll get suspicious."

"I've already taken that into account." Miguel answered and faced Leo. "How would you like to be at the frontlines?"

"What do you mean?" Leo replied.

"Your cabin will take the middle and take the fight to the Betas." Miguel answered. "Make them think that Will's strategy is brute force. Don't let them suspect a hidden trap. Don't even bring them _near_ the trap. They'll see through it and the plan is ruined."

Leo looked excited as he whistled and Festus swooped down from the skies. He mounted the automaton and took to the skies, his cabin following behind him. Will returned to his half-siblings and led them to the designated place.

Miguel's focus returned to the map. The blue blips were already in position. Some were gathered halfway between the flag and the creek, some were making rounds around the left and right flanks, sometimes stopping to set some sort of prank, some were situated around the flag's territory, some were headed towards the creek and only four were near the blue flag marker. That would be him, Astrid, Alex and Lumina.

"What do we do now?" Lumina asked.

"We take the flag." He answered. "I'll hide our little group with the mist so we can get to the flag unseen."

"Why don't we just shadow travel there?" Alex questioned.

"Shadow travelling has been forbidden in capture the flag after last time." Astrid explained with a monotonous voice. "It gave the shadow traveler an '_unfair advantage_'."

A horn sounded in the distance that signified the end of the planning phase. A second horn that signified the start of the game should sound soon.

"Arm yourselves." he said as he swiped his hand through the mist and the map dissolved. "The game should start soon."

Astrid held out her hand and a five-foot long ice spear materialized in the air before her. Cold air rolled off the spear as it was very frigid. Miguel once made the mistake of touching it and he ended up with frostnip in his hand for an hour.

Alex drew his stygian iron sword and slashed the air. Lumina slung her bow on her shoulder and donned her quiver. She drew two hand fans and when she opened them, Miguel realized that the fans were bladed.

He summoned the mist and pulled a bow and a quiver which he wore on his back. The second horn sounded, which means that the game has begun. "You guys ready?" He asked and the others nodded.

Miguel raised his hand; his palm turned upwards and recited a chant. "_Πέπλο του σκότους, σάβανο μας με ψευδαίσθηση και απόκρυψη μας από το θέαμα όλων των._" The mist rolled in and surrounded them. Soon, they were translucent, almost like they were ghosts. His group was checking out their hands and arms. Even Syllaby was chasing her translucent tail. They must be seeing the same effect.

"Wow…" Lumina said in awe. "We're invisible?"

"Yes. Only we can see each other. We're still audible to others, though, so keep quiet." He answered. "Let's go, we have a flag to capture."

* * *

_**TRANSLATIONS**_

**GREEK: **_Επικαλεστεί: εποπτεία μάχης_ – Invoke: Battlefield Oversight; _Πέπλο του σκότους, σάβανο μας με ψευδαίσθηση και απόκρυψη μας από το θέαμα όλων των. _– Veil of darkness, shroud us with illusion and hide us from the sight of all.  
**GERMAN: **_Nun liebe Kinder gebt fein acht. – _Now, dear children, pay attention.


	3. III - A Not-So-Friendly Game

_ExiXIII_: **I know it took long. I was too busy with **_**so much**_** homework that I had little time to do this. *sighs* My teachers must really enjoy seeing us squirm with the incomprehensible number of requirements. Anyways, here's Chapter Three! This is when they play capture the flag.**

* * *

The group of four was taking a not-so-leisurely stroll across the forest, a random camper passing them by every now and then as if they didn't see them, because they _can't._ Sometimes, Alex would trip a running Beta and he will look around with a confused look on his face and run screaming "Ghosts!" until an Alpha captures him.

They heard a splat and loud cursing from the woods. Connor Stoll burst from the undergrowth with a mischievous grin on his face. Soon after, Clarisse LaRue appeared then gave him pursuit, her face covered with shaving cream. "Come back here, you twit!" She yelled as she chased him, but Connor was outrunning her. "I'll snap your neck when I get my hands on you!"

Connor led her near a dense patch of forest. The forest flickered briefly, revealing a group of campers that weren't there before and then vines shot out and grabbed Clarisse. The plants easily and quickly dragged her into the woods, and then the campers disappeared. Anastasiya's mirage is working and the trap was functioning as it should. What's more is that its first victim is the counselor of the Ares cabin. Miguel would have laughed diabolically if they weren't sneaking.

Moments after, an Aphrodite camper, Drew Tanaka in particular, ran into him and his concentration broke, making the illusion falter for a while. He was sure that she spotted them since the look of surprise in her face immediately turned hostile. "Show yourself!" She said, her voice laced with charmspeak.

The charmspeak in her voice was too powerful and the way she brushed aside a strand of hair that fell in front of her face... he couldn't help but obey, even though every cell in his body told him not to. He raised his hand, despite his group trying to stop him and muttered an incantation. "_Επικαλεστεί: Διαλύετε ψευδαίσθηση._" His team turned from translucent to opaque in a matter of seconds. Drew shot to her feet and brandished her dagger.

"I knew I'd find you eventually." She said with a triumphant smirk on her face. "Now why don't you four just come with me and get this over with the easy way?"

He was about to comply when Lumina interjected. She seemed to be the only one unaffected by Drew's charmspeak. "_Nous laisser seuls, sorcière._"

What Lumina said must have surprised Drew since she had a perplexed look on her face and the effect of her charmspeak seemed to get alleviated. "_Qu'est-ce? Comment?_" She replied in confusion.

"_N'oubliez pas que je suis pas affecté par charmspeak._" Lumina answered. Drew's surprised expression changed into a dissatisfied scowl.

"Fine." Drew answered then she snapped her fingers. Three Betas emerged from their hiding spots and came to her aid. "If you want to do it the hard way…"

"An ambush…" Miguel mused, amazed by how such a simple trap had caught them. "Were you expecting us?"

Drew's answer disappointed him a bit. "No, hon." She answered with a sly smile that looked pretty _and _creepy at the same time. "We're just lucky that we ran into you." She killed her smile and gave a single command. "Sic 'em, boys!"

Syllaby, recognizing Drew and her group as a threat, howled, which stopped their opponents for a short while. Syllaby's light, high-pitched howl turned deeper and feral as the cub metamorphosed into a full-grown wolf about twice the size of a normal wolf. She snarled and the Betas backed away, fearing the silver beast.

"What are you idiots doing?" Drew exclaimed, her voice poised with charmspeak. "Stop being cowards and get them!"

Their opponents seem to have found their courage once again and charged despite the large wolf snarling at them. One of them crossed blades with Alex, sending black sparks flying all over the place. Another tried to attack Astrid with a dagger. Drew went for Lumina and Syllaby. The last one tried to stab at Miguel with a spear and failed.

"Missed." He said tauntingly and hid opponent tried to jab him again and ended up stabbing the air about five inches to his left. "Missed again. My turn." He grabbed the spear by the shaft and by using his opponent's momentum, pulled the weapon and brought down the Beta. "_Επικαλεστεί: Συγκρατήστε!_" He shouted and a set of iron shackles engraved with runes appeared from the mist and secured themselves on his opponent's wrists and ankles, chaining him to the ground.

He turned around to check on his friends. Astrid was still fighting her opponent, dodging the dagger and retaliating with her ice spear, creating a fine layer of ice where the spear touched her opponent. Alex was still engaged in sword fighting, zombie hands rising from the ground and grabbing his opponent. Drew was fighting Syllaby, her clothes tattered by claw scratches, but she still looked glamorous. "A little help here, sweetie?" She requested, her voice tinged with sorcery.

Before he knew it, he was taking aim at Lumina and Syllaby, his lips moving without his consent. "_Επικαλεστεί: δύναμη παλμού!_" The two were pushed back.

"Thanks, dear." Drew replied then charged with her dagger and Lumina blocked with her hand fans. Syllaby tacked Drew and she rolled on the ground. Astrid used her Boreas powers and created a wall of ice around Drew, caging her in. "Let me out!" She demanded, pounding her fists on the ice.

"_Nein._" Miguel answered then placed his palm on Drew's head. Her hair felt silky under his palm and it smelled faintly of nutmeg. _Gods, snap out of it! _He exclaimed mentally. He regained his concentration and cast a spell. "_Επικαλεστεί__: __σιωπή__._" Drew tried to shout, but nothing came out. Her hands flew to her mouth and then continued to try to shout at them, but to no avail. He could swear that she was swearing, he just wasn't sure since he can't read lips.

He looked around. Astrid's opponent was now an ice sculpture, Alex's opponent was held down by zombie hands – and she seemed to have passed out, Miguel's attacker was bound by magical chains and Drew was encased in a prison made of ice.

"Looks like we're done here." Alex said.

Miguel had to redo the entire invisibility incantation. He raised his hand, fingers splayed and chanted. "_Πέπλοπ του σκότους, σάβανο μας με ψευσαίαθηση και απόκρυψη μας από το θέαμα όλων των._" They faded until they were transparent. He felt a minor headache from too much spell casting in a short span of time. He'll just have to lay off the magic for a while and wait for his headache to dissipate on its own.

* * *

They continued their walk through the forest, the sounds of battle emanating from before them. Soon, they were near the creek where the Hephaestus kids were engaged in combat with the enemy team. Cabin 9 even brought heavy weaponry.

"Fire!" He heard Jake Mason exclaim. A cannon fired an explosive incendiary shot that made a smoldering crater where it landed, sending the Betas running away with half-burnt cloths and soot-covered bodies.

A mechanical roar sounded from above them. They looked up and found Leo atop Festus's back, breathing fire on any enemy below them. Leo hooted as the Betas below them ran for cover from the red-hot flames. There were a few of the enemy forces in the battle since a lot of them were either trapped or caught.

The creek surged faster and waves began to form and rise. That only meant one thing, and it wasn't going to be good, not for them, at least. The waves grew bigger, making some campers in the water stumble and making some others wet. A tall wave came from upstream and standing on it was Percy Jackson, like he was surfing on it. With him were Annabeth and Jason. The wave crashed, washing away some campers and disabling some fire-based weapons like the cannons or siege flamethrowers.

The three charged, weapons held high and engaged the Alphas. Leo lobbed fireballs at them and they skilfully evaded the blazing projectiles. He fired another volley and Percy called up a wall of water that extinguished the flames.

"How are we supposed to get past this?" Astrid asked, her icy-blue eyes scanning the scene.

"We walk past it?" Alex suggested.

"No, too dangerous." Lumina answered. "We could get killed by accident."

"Then let's cross there. That spot looks far enough from the fight."

"If we cross the creek, Percy would know our position." Miguel answered. "He would attack us and it all ends there."

"I could fly you over the creek." Astrid volunteered.

"Jason would know if you try to control the winds." He replied. "He'll bring us down with his own wind."

"Ghosts!" A voice exclaimed from beside them. They turned to their right and found Leo who was looking around to home in on the speaker's position. He had a look of confusion and what might even have been a bit of fear.

"Leo." Miguel answered and Leo's head turned to them, although he still looked baffled.

"Miguel? Is that you? Are you dead?" Leo said. "Or have I finally lost it?"

"No, we're not dead." Miguel answered. "We're just invisible."

Leo heaved a sigh of relief. "Then I haven't gone completely nuts."

A thought struck Miguel. "Why aren't you on Festus?" He asked.

"Percy got him good." Leo answered sadly. "Poor, guy. He took too much water and now he can barely breathe fire."

"Can he still fly?" Miguel asked.

"'Course he can." Leo answered. "Though not far."

"We only need to get to the other side." Miguel said. "Will you help us?"

Leo turned to Festus. "Can you do it, boy?" He prompted and Festus nodded. "He can do it." Leo said.

"Splendid." Miguel answered then turned to face his translucent teammates. "Get on Festus; we have no time to waste!"

They mounted the mechanical dragon then Leo sat on Festus's back to pilot the automaton. "Are you all ready?" He prompted.

"Take us up!" Miguel said and Leo patted Festus's neck. The dragon flapped its wings and took flight, albeit on a low altitude. The dragon reached the other side without attracting the attention of Percy, Annabeth and Jason. A small squad of Betas charged at Festus and the automaton spit water at them at a high-pressure jet, knocking them down and soaking them wet.

"Whoa!" Leo said in amazement. "Never knew you could do that!" Festus creaked and whirred happily and fired streams of hot water at the Betas, knocking them back or scalding them.

Miguel and his team got off the automaton. "Keep them away from the trap and don't let them suspect that we were here." He commanded and Leo nodded. Festus took flight again and sprayed the enemy forces with more steam and water.

"Let's go get that flag." Lumina said then they continued heading for the enemy flag.

* * *

"There it is." Astrid said as she pointed at the flag.

It sat on the top of the remnants of Zeus's Fist with four people standing guard over it. He couldn't see the figures well since they were just silhouettes illuminated by the moonlight. That and that he has a migraine headache, the price of casting too many spells. He took a migraine pill before they went near Zeus's Fist, and that only did little to alleviate the pain.

"What do we do now?" Lumina asked.

"We can't get to the flag without remaining unseen." Miguel answered and tried to focus on the four shadowy figures, just to try to identify them. "We're going to have to fight, seeing that we have no other option."

"Yeah, we better get ready then." Astrid said.

"What makes you say that?" Lumina replied.

Alex wagged his finger towards the flag. "I think that's what she meant." The four figures are now charging towards them, weapons held high. How could they have seen them?

Alex checked her arms. "The illusion… it's gone!"

"What?" His headache spiked for a moment, the pain making him realize something even though he could barely think straight. His migraine broke his concentration and the illusion broke along with it.

Astrid brandished her spear, Alex unsheathed his sword, Lumina opened her bladed hand fans as Syllaby turned into a big, silver wolf and Miguel nocked an arrow into his bow, the arrowhead catching fire due to an enchantment placed on the arrows.

The four guardians came into better view. Katherine, Caspian, Iridian and Ryan. Soon, they were engaged in battle.

Katherine tapped her golden snake bracelet and it turned into a golden whip, which she lashed out at Alex. The whip caught him by the arm and Alex had to swing his sword, making a gash across Katherine's arm. She reared back and struck again, wounding Alex's side.

Caspian drew a hand of playing cards from the white suit he has changed into before the game started. He threw the cards like they were throwing stars and impaled a tree and a rock behind Lumina. The cards were bladed and another card he threw made a cut on her leg. Syllaby growled and pounced and attacked Caspian.

Iridian spread her wings and brought down her scythe, barely missing Astrid. She lunged with her spear and grazed Iridian's shoulder, a fine layer of frost radiating outwards from the wound. Iridian took to the skies and Astrid did the same. They engaged in aerial combat, sparks and bits of ice falling to the ground like snow.

Ryan charged at Miguel as he drew two long swords from two sheaths behind his waist. He swung the swords and wounded Miguel's forearm and leg. He didn't evade since his migraine didn't even let him react in time.

Ryan attacked again. Miguel swerved left, dodging the blades. He took his chance to counterattack. He aimed at Ryan and let go of the arrow nocked into his bow's drawstring. Ryan wasn't impaled by the arrow; the arrowhead just wounded his cheek.

Ryan swung his swords again and this time, Miguel wasn't able to react fast enough. The blades made a cut on his side, which disabled him even further. He tried to nock another arrow, but the pain he felt didn't let him do that. He was helpless. He had no other option. Despite his migraine, he tried to cast a spell. "_Επικαλεστεί: Καλέστει Φρουροί!"_

The mist behind him thickened until it was opaque, like condensed fog. From the mist, three silhouettes appeared and soon, the shapes emerged from the fog, revealing three armored Ancient Greek warriors with celestial bronze swords and circular shields with an image of two crossed torches, the symbol of Hecate. These were mistforms, ones he had summoned to his aid.

"_Επίθεση!_" He commanded and the mistforms charged to engage Ryan in combat. Ryan's attention was diverted from him as he had to fight the mistforms. He took his chance and nocked an arrow and fired. The arrowhead cut Ryan's leg and he was temporarily stopped by the pain. A mistform bashed him with its shield, making Ryan fall on his butt. Miguel bound him with another spell. "_Επικαλεστεί: Συγκρατήστε!_"

Magical chains burst from the mist and shackled Ryan to the ground, rendering him disabled. Miguel faced his mistforms. "_Απόρριψη._" The mistforms nodded and they dissolved to vapor and vanished. Now, his head felt like it was about to explode. Summoning and maintaining the mistforms took up a lot of energy and required a lot of concentration.

One by one, their opponents were defeated. Iridian fell from the sky. Astrid descended beside her and encased Iridian w=in ice, leaving only her head exposed. Alex called up more zombies that held Katherine down. Syllaby pinned Caspian to the ground and Lumina was busy binding his wrists and ankles with a length of silver rope that the Hunters often use.

They approached the red flag and placed their hands on it. The flag rippled and changed color from red to blue to red to purple. That means that they have captured it and all they had to do now was defend this spot until time runs out.

"TWELVE MINUTES UNTIL TAKE AND HOLD VICTORY." A voice rang out. The timer has started.

"They're going to know that we have the flag." Miguel said, clutching his side with his left hand to try and slow the bleeding. He felt bad both physically and mentally. "We better get ready for whatever they throw at us."

* * *

They all took a short break to relieve themselves of their exhaustion and treat their wounds by consuming nectar and ambrosia. Miguel's headache was alleviated, even by a bit. They've been waiting for the enemy to come for them since the timer began. A single attack group of three came for them but they easily fended them off due to their small number. They defeated them and trapped them within a binding circle.

The main reason for the shortage of enemies must be because that they were trapped. He was confident that they might win this one, until Miranda contacted him.

A rune on his cheap wristwatch faintly glowed green. He touched it with two fingers, brought it close to his face and spoke. "Yes?" He began.

"They've found us!" The voice of Miranda Gardiner replied. The sounds of battle and frenzied screaming emanated from the rune.

"What? How?" He replied in surprise. The Betas weren't supposed to find the trap, much less disable it. If the trap falls, it could mean bad news for his team.

"Anastasiya messed up!" Miranda replied.

"_Извините!_" Anastasiya's voice exclaimed from the background.

"Uh oh." Miranda said nervously. "They've released them! They're- Ah!"

"Miranda!" He called out. "Miranda, answer me!"

A female voice spoke from the rune, but it wasn't Miranda's. "Hello, Miguel."

"Annabeth." He replied. "So nice to hear from you."

"A trap, hmm?" She mused with an amused tone. He could swear, that on the other end of the connection, she was smirking. "Very obvious play, coming from you."

"I knew you'd figure it out sooner or later." He answered.

"EIGHT MINUTES UNTIL TAKE AND HOLD VICTORY." The timer's voice said.

"You do know that we're going to win, right?" Annabeth prompted.

"I'd like to see you try." He replied. "The flag is ours and our defenses are tight."

"We'll see about that." Annabeth replied and the rune's glow faded. The connection has ended.

"We better get ready." Lumina said after a moment. "I have a feeling that they're going to hit us with everything they've got."

* * *

_**TRANSLATIONS**_

**GREEK: **_Επικαλεστεί: Διαλύετε ψευδαίσθηση_** – **Invoke: Dispel Illusion; _Επικαλεστεί: Συγκρατήστε – _Invoke: Restrain; _Επικαλεστεί: δύναμη παλμού __– _Invoke: Force Pulse; _Επικαλεστεί__: __σιωπή_– Invoke: Silence; _Επικαλεστεί: Καλέστει Φρουροί – _Summon Sentinels; _Επίθεση – _Attack; _Απόρριψη - _Dismissed**  
GERMAN: **_Nein - _No**  
FRENCH: **_Nous laisser seuls, sorcière – _Leave us alone, witch; _Qu'est-ce? Comment? – _What? How?; _N'oubliez pas que je suis pas affecté par charmspeak – _Do not forget that I am unaffected by charmspeak.**  
****RUSSIAN: **_Извините - _Sorry


	4. IV - A New Prophecy

_ExiXIII - Known-As-Rome: _**You'll see your OC soon, all in good time.**

* * *

_ExiXIII: _**Okay, this is the continuation of Capture the Flag. The trap has fallen, and what would happen to their team? If you'll notice, the POV has changed in this chapter. Happy reading!**

******STOP RIGHT THERE!  
STRAIGHTEN YOUR BACK, MATE.  
GOOD. CONTINUE.**

* * *

"SEVEN MINUTES UNTIL TAKE AND HOLD VICTORY." The timer sounded. The alarm reminded them of how much time they had left to defend. Annabeth's warning about the trap's failure made them all tense as an entire battalion of enemies might burst from the woods at any given time. The pressure they felt made it seem as if time was running slowly. Excruciatingly slow.

They all looked messed up. Their clothes were tattered and covered with bloodstains and they had wounds all over their bodies. Lumina took out a small Ziploc bag with small squares of ambrosia from a pocket in her jacket and shared one with each member of the group. Astrid took one square and popped it into her mouth. She chewed it and it tasted of Maple Syrup. Her wounds closed up almost immediately.

"Maybe they've forgotten about us?" Alex asked hopefully. "Or maybe they went for the flag."

"I don't think so…" Miguel answered as he pointed at the woods.

Everyone followed his gaze. He was referring to a stream of water that burst from the forest's canopy and was coming toward them at a high velocity. Astrid raised her arm as if she was making a stop gesture and willed the temperature to drop. The water began to freeze and chunks of ice fell and shattered like glass.

Percy, Jason and Annabeth soon emerged from the woods, charging towards them with weapons raised.

Miguel and Lumina nocked arrows into their bows and fired, creating a triangle with their arrows. Miguel raised his hand and shouted an incantation. The arrowheads that were stuck in the ground glowed red and caught fire. A trail of flames crept from one arrowhead to the next, creating a triangle of fire that trapped their opponents with a wall of searing flame.

The wind blew and spun around the fire like a vortex. The fire was extinguished by the air that was rapidly spinning around the area, disabling the cage of flame. Percy, Annabeth and Jason continued their charge.

It was Jason whom Astrid had faced. She willed the winds to take her up to the skies. It took a bit of effort since the winds weren't northern winds, but she was able to do it in the end. She gained altitude and Jason followed. They engaged each other in aerial combat.

Their weapons crossed, spear against blade. Jason tried to bend the winds to make her fall, but she countered with her own control of the winds. She tried to make the winds colder, ice crystallizing on Jason's clothes, making him lose his concentration. Astrid took her chance and used the winds to bring Jason down.

"I've had an encounter with your sister…" Jason said through chattering teeth. "It felt exactly the same as this."

"Don't you dare say her name!" Astrid replied, a bit of her anger showing in her voice. Even though they were paternal half-sisters, she has always hated Khione because she was a 'cold bitch'. Khione was kind to Astrid which made her like her initially, but then she discovered that Khione was just playing nice and even tried to kill her by imprisoning her in a block of ice. This is another reason why she hated the snow goddess. Only her half-brothers Zethes and Calais were the ones who were actually kind to her, and they even saved her from dying of hypothermia.

She channeled her abilities again and froze Jason's body solid, leaving only his head unfrozen. "Yup, just like that time…" Jason said.

"_Nein!_" She head Miguel exclaim behind her. She turned around and found him on the ground, a gash running across his leg. She followed his gaze and saw Percy and Annabeth going for the flag.

Percy and Annabeth reached the flag and put their hands on it. "SIX MINUTES UNTIL- TIMER RESET." The timer said. The purple flag turned red again and Miguel pounded his fists on the ground like a child throwing a temper tantrum.

"TWELVE MINUTES UNTIL TAKE AND HOLD VICTORY." A timer sounded, but with a different voice. Miguel shot to his feet and ran into the forest cursing in German as he went. Astrid realized that it was _their _flag that had been captured and Lumina and Alex were already on their way to their flag. Astrid followed behind.

* * *

The trip back to their base took up a lot of time because of the Betas and the obstacles that stood in their way. "60 SECONDS UNTIL TAKE AND HOLD VICTORY." The timer sounded just as they had arrived.

A battle was taking place before the blue flag that was now purple. A line of Ares campers led by Clarisse was standing guard over the flag, fending off anyone who tried to get near it. Will Solace ran for the flag, but Clarisse swung her spear over her head, hitting Will's head with the shaft and knocking him out cold.

"We still have 60 seconds." Lumina pointed out. "About enough time to reset the timer."

"If you can get there." Veronica said as she moved to block their path. Four more campers stood beside her and all of them looked like her half-siblings. She and her half-sibling brandished their shields and spears, creating a phalanx that barred their progress.

"45 SECONDS UNTIL TAKE AND HOLD VICTORY."

"_Επικαλεστεί: δύναμη παλμού!_" Miguel exclaimed and the phalanx formation was pushed back and sent flying like an invisible hand flicked them away. They ran towards the flag, only to have their way impended by another barricade that consisted of Drew and Piper.

"Hello, sweetie." Drew said with a shrewd smile. "I don't appreciate what you did back there."

Astrid wasn't sure if she was referring to her being imprisoned within a wall of ice or her voice being silenced by magic or Syllaby pinning her down and ruining her clothes. Or maybe she was referring to all three.

"30 SECONDS UNTIL TAKE AND HOLD VICTORY."

They all readied their weapons on the Aphrodite campers. Their opponents readied their weapons as well. Like _they're _going to actually _fight _them, Aphrodite's children often suck in combat. "Now, now," Piper began, her voice tinged with sorcery. "Put down your weapons, we just want to talk."

Astrid suddenly felt like having a nice, long chat with Piper McLean. She dropped her spear and it shattered to bits when it hit the ground. Her teammates did the same, except for Lumina, who was unaffected by the charmspeak.

"What are you doing?" Lumina exclaimed. "You're not actually going to give in, are you?"

"15 SECONDS UNTIL TAKE AND HOLD VICTORY."

The timer snapped them out of their trances. She readied another ice spear and pointed it at their opponents. Miguel and Alex picked up their weapons on the ground and readied them. Drew looked like she was about to burst into laughter.

"Accept the fact that you've lost." She said with a smirk.

"Not as long as there's still time." Miguel replied with uncertainty in his voice. He nocked an arrow and aimed at Drew, cold smoke rolling of the arrowhead that now glowed blue. He fired and the arrow hit the ground between Drew's and Piper's feet, turning the ground into an ice rink and making them slip.

"TEN, NINE, EIGHT…"

They ran toward the flag as the seconds passed by. "SEVEN, SIX, FIVE…" The timer sounded. They were still far from the flag, so Astrid doubted that they would even reach the flag before the time hit zero. "FOUR, THREE, TWO…"

"ONE." The timer said. "TAKE AND HOLD VICTORY ACHIEVED BY TEAM B."

The purple flag rippled and turned red, an indicator that they lost. Percy, Jason and Annabeth arrived at the site just as the flag changed color. The opposing team held their weapons high and cheered triumphantly, some of them carrying the three high and brought them to the bonfire to celebrate. Their cheers were soon but a faint sound in the distance.

Their team looked down and defeated, disappointment hanging heavily in the air. Will woke up and came to his senses. He looked around with a confused expression on his face. "What happened here?" He asked.

"We lost." Miguel answered. "The plan failed." Anastasiya kicked a rock and hung her head in shame. "Don't worry, I'm not blaming anyone." He said, noticing that Anastasiya looked ashamed.

"Let's go to that bonfire." Will finally spoke up. "We've got some songs to sing."

* * *

Astrid sat by herself during the campfire.

The Apollo cabin was singing a song that she found somewhat obnoxious. All of her teammates looked disappointed at the fact that they have lost. The Ares cabin was punching each other's arms in celebration. The Athena and Aphrodite cabins gloated. Percy was having a chat with Annabeth, so were Jason and Piper.

The crowd stirred. They began talking amongst themselves in wonder and awe as they looked up to the sky. Astrid followed their gaze. The moon was full tonight and it seemed larger than usual. It emitted a silvery glow stronger than anything she has seen, like it was morning. Very unusual.

"Whoa, look at that." One of the campers said. Their gazes shifted to Lumina. A bright beam of moonlight shone upon her like a spotlight. Soon after, the moonlight dissipated and the light level returned to normal. Lumina's clothes still radiated a ghostly, silvery glow and a holographic crescent moon hovered over her head. Astrid realized that she had just been claimed, and this was no claiming like she had seen before.

The silver radiance weakened and the crescent moon disappeared. The entire group was slack-jawed and dead-silent. The only sound that can be heard was the crackling of the fire and the rustling of the leaves in the weak, cool night breeze.

"How…" Chiron began as he found his voice after a moment of silence.

"Artemis claiming a child…" Dionysus mused. "That's new."

"Artemis claimed her?" Chiron asked incredulously.

"Well, of course." Dionysus replied. "Didn't you see the bright moonlight and the silver aura and the special effects? Artemis has a thing for the theatrical."

"A daughter of Artemis?" Astrid heard one of the campers say.

"Impossible."

"I thought she was a maiden goddess…"

"The council's going to hear about this…" Dionysus said as he took another sip from his diet coke. "And there it is. Daddy dear just summoned the council to a meeting." He took another sip of the diet coke and disappeared in a puff of purple smoke.

Moments after the wine god departed, the sound of hissing snakes emanated from nowhere and everywhere and Rachel Elizabeth Dare, who was beside Chiron at the time, radiated an emerald green aura and her eyes turned into a solid green color. When she spoke, she spoke not in her voice, but in the voice of the Oracle. She's going to deliver another prophecy.

_The dark god stirs and begins to wake,  
The dark half-blood, loyalty shall break.  
Seven demigods the cards shall call,  
And together bring the dark god's fall.  
The master's and vassal's souls as one,  
Its great power by mortals outdone._

With that, the emerald aura that surrounded Rachel dissipated.

"A new prophecy?" One of the campers said.

Soon, the entire crowd broke out in conversation, half-bloods discussing things with other half-bloods regarding the prophecy and what it could possibly mean.

"How exciting today is." She heard another camper say.

"All counselors," Chiron began. "Meet me in the Big House for a meeting." The centaur announced then headed for the Big House with Rachel following behind.

* * *

"What's this about?" Caspian asked.

Chiron called them all to a meeting in the Rec Room. They were all seated around the Ping-Pong table, waiting for whatever Chiron has to say.

"This is about the prophecy." Chiron answered.

"It called for another seven…" Annabeth mused then exchanged glances with Percy, Piper, Leo and Jason. They shook their heads in unison in a collective '_Oh Gods, No._'

"We don't even know who the seven are supposed to be or how we're going to find out." Clarisse pointed out.

"There _is _that line in the prophecy." Rachel said. "_'Seven demigods the cards shall call._' Maybe _that's_ our hint."

"But what does it mean?" Leo asked.

"'_The cards shall call_…' Maybe like, fortune telling?" Jason wondered aloud.

"Since when were cards used for fortune telling?" Caspian questioned.

"Hazel once told me about her mom using cards for seeing the future." Leo said. "What did she call it? Uh… Tarot?"

"That's the only fortune telling method that uses cards." Rachel answered. "All we need now is someone who knows how."

Astrid looked over to Miguel. She knew he can do Tarot, she'd asked him for a prediction before and it came true. He even made her promise that she would not tell anyone about that because he doesn't want an entire mass of people coming to him for predictions.

"Miguel, do _you _know how?" Rachel asked. She must have noticed her looking to his direction.

"No." He answered.

"You're a horrible liar, you know that?" Piper spoke up. True, he was a horrible liar. Astrid even gets confused as to how he can pull off illusions and tricks if he can't even lie and get away with it.

He heaved a sigh. "Yes, I do Tarot." He called upon the mist and pulled a deck of cards from a wooden box that appeared out of thin air. "You better not ask me for predictions after this." He said as he eyed everyone in the group.

He shuffled the deck then laid out twenty-one face-down cards in seven rows of three. He flipped up the cards one by one.

The first row consisted of _The Chariot, Knight of Cups and Nine of Cups (Reversed)_. It all looked like random cards to her, but Miguel looked like he understood what they meant.

"The Chariot," he said as he pointed at the card, "can represent valor and conquest." He looked up from the cards. "Maybe a child of Ares?"

"Can you be any vaguer?" Clarisse asked with irritation.

"This one," Miguel said as he pointed at the Nine of Cups, completely ignoring Clarisse, "mean vanity. Of, course." Then he pointed to the Knight of Cups. "This one can represent self-sacrifice and compassion, traits I've rarely seen an Ares camper possess."

"Can't you give a specific name?" Annabeth questioned.

"Unfortunately, no." He answered.

"Do you know who it is?" Miranda asked.

He shrugged. "I don't know who the cards refer to and I most certainly do not know their names. I can describe them, but that's the best I can do. The cards are often cryptic in nature."

He pointed at the second row. ._The Hermit (Reversed), Wheel of Fortune and Nine of Wands (Reversed)._ He pointed at the Hermit. "A loner, someone who tends to have an aversion from others." He pointed to the Wheel of Fortune and the Nine of Wands. "Someone who often feels conflicted and can change because of this."

"Who could it be?" Will asked.

"Once again, I don't know." Miguel answered then focused on the third trio. _The Fool (Reversed), Two of Cups and Queen of Wands. _"Naivety, childishness, reckless impulse…" He described the Fool then moved his finger to the Two of Cups. "Friendliness and happiness." He pointed at the Queen of Wands. "Fire. A child of Hephaestus?"

"Fire?" Leo said with high hopes. "Could be me!"

"I don't know. I have a hunch that this one refers to a girl." Miguel replied and Leo looked disappointed.

The fourth row consisted of _The Empress, Four of Swords and Prince of Swords._ He started with the Empress. "Wealth, Abundance… A child of Hermes?"

"Dude, Cabin 11's got the most occupants." Travis pointed out.

"Someone who is good with words…" Miguel answered, referring to the Prince of Swords. "A Master Negotiator." He continued as he pointed at the Four of Swords.

He studied the fifth row and a look of sadness crawled across his face. He shot a sideways glance towards Astrid, his green eyes carrying sympathy. _What could he have read in the cards?_ Astrid wondered as all she could see were _The Tower (Reversed), Queen of Swords (Reversed) and Six of Swords (Reversed)._

"A misanthropist." He declared. "Someone cold and distrusting towards others." He pointed at the Queen of Swords. "Air. Maybe someone with control over that element."

"Control over air…" Jason mused. "Could be me or Ryan or Astrid."

"Yeah, but you're not cold and distrusting." Piper said.

"Moving on." Miguel concluded. He seemed to be in a hurry. She would make sure to ask him about this after this meeting is done. The fifth row was made of _The Magician, Seven of Swords (Reversed) and Seven of Disks (Reversed). _He pointed at the Magician. "Control over power and energy. A child of Hecate maybe." His finger moved to the Seven of Swords and the Seven of Disks. "Trickery and impatience."

Astrid glanced at him. He must have noticed her since he discreetly furrowed his eyebrows in what might have been a '_Gods, no._'

"The last row." He said dismissively. _The Moon, Three of Wands and Six of Wands (Reversed). _"As if the Moon isn't a big enough hint…" Everyone's gazes shifted to Lumina, who was brushing a sleeping Syllaby's silver fur.

"What?" Lumina said. "You think it's me?"

"After that claiming?" Miranda replied. "We _know _it's you."

Lumina regarded her with a deadpan expression. The whole Big House shook, sending objects flying off the shelves.

"What was that?" Percy said in surprise as he shot to his feet. The place shook again, making Percy stumble.

"We're under attack!" Clarisse exclaimed, retrieved her spear and shield and went out of the room.

"Follow her!" Chiron said and slung his quiver over his shoulder. He left the Rec Room and the other counselors followed behind with their weapons ready.

Miguel rose to his feet and summoned his quiver and bow. He was about to walk out the door when she stopped him. She grabbed him by the cuff of his shirt's sleeve and turned him around so that he faces her. "Can we talk?" She prompted.

"Now's not really the time-"

"It'll just take a second." She replied. "About that prediction… You think it was me?"

"The Queen of Swords and the Six of Swords refer to a misanthropist with control of air." He replied. "You're the only person I know that fits the bill. I don't see what the point of this is, but-"

"There's something else, isn't there?" She pressed, which must have hit home with him, since his face showed a bit of sympathy. "Tell me."

He sighed. "The Reversed Tower."

"What about it?"

"It symbolizes blind destruction." He answered then placed his hand onto her shoulder. "Astrid, I know what had happened in your past, that's why I didn't share its symbolism."

The Big House shook once more and he disbanded. "We have to get out there." He said and ran out the door, nocking an arrow on the way.

She was left alone in the Rec Room. "Blind destruction…" She muttered to herself and remembered her horrible past.

Five years ago, when she was eleven years old, a group of Laistrygonian Giants attacked her home. Blinded by rage and driven by fear, she unleashed her powers in the form of a great blizzard that killed the monsters _and _her mother in a wave of snow and ice. Her emotions took over, and the result of that was the loss of her only family at her own hands. Maybe that's what her friend was referring to.

Another loud boom from outside snapped her out of her trance. She held out her hand and willed the air to freeze and crystallize. An ice spear materialized in her palm and she ran out of the room to confront their attackers.

* * *

_ExiXIII: _**Sorry if that prophecy was bad; I'm not very good with poetry.**

* * *

_**TRANSLATIONS**_

**GREEK: **_Επικαλεστεί__: __δύναμη__παλμού__ – _Invoke: Force Pulse  
**GERMAN: **_Nein_ – No


	5. V - A New Threat

Astrid went out of the Big House and found a massive battle taking place.

The battle took place in the forest where they played capture the flag. The concentration of monsters in this area was higher and there were more demigods situated in this area, fighting the continuous onslaught of the opposing army. She headed to that area to assist in the fight.

"It's like Blitzkrieg all over again!" The voice of Hazel Levesque exclaimed. Astrid turned around to find her, Frank Zhang and Nathan Byrn fending off a group of three Gryphons_. _They must have come as reinforcements.

"Reinforcements coming in endlessly." Annabeth answered in agreement. She stabbed a gorgon in the stomach with her dagger. "Soon, we'll be outnumbered _and _overpowered."

"_Heil__Führer!_" Miguel blurted out as he fired an arrow and hit a _Dracaena. _The monster spontaneously caught on fire and was reduced to ashes. Hazel and Annabeth regarded him as if he were insane.

"I met Hitler's ghost once." Iridian said as she swung her scythe, beheading an unlucky Minotaur. "He told me stories of the Holocaust that I'm sure no one has ever heard of before."

"Wait, you met the _Führer?_" Miguel replied incredulously as he fired another arrow that killed a hellhound. "And he told you stories? I wish I was there..."

"Untold stories of the Holocaust, huh?" Annabeth inquired with interest. "Be sure to tell me those stories."

"Those stories were full of tales of death." Katherine said as she strangled a gorgon with her whip. Anastasiya finished it off by chopping its head off with her machete. The disembodied head lopped to the ground and turned to dust.

"It was the Holocaust, what did you expect?" Hazel replied as she thrust her _spatha_ into a Gryphon's back.

"Are we done talking about Nazis here?" Frank spoke up.

A loud bellow came from the woods. A herd of hostile cow-like creatures emerged soon after.

"_Katoblepones_?" Nathan mused.

"Oh no…" Frank muttered. "Not again."

The _Katoblepones_ breathed out a large quantity of poisonous gas that would have made the Nazis proud. "Hold your breaths!" Hazel warned.

"Don't make eye contact!" Frank continued.

The poisonous mist soon surrounded them; Astrid felt her skin prickling in reaction. Even if she was holding her breath and averting her gaze from the cow-like creatures, she could still feel herself getting nauseous. She bent the winds to her will in an attempt to whisk away the toxic fog. It took a bit of effort, but soon, the wind came in and blew away the miasma, revealing the _Katoblepones_ and making them vulnerable.

They engaged the _Katoblepones_ before they even had the chance to generate another poisonous fog. Kamaria and Veronica popped out of their hiding spots and brought their weapons down on the beasts, reducing them to dust.

"Come on, you suckers!" Kam challenged the remaining _Katoblepones_. "Come get some!"

One of the monsters charged and Kam stabbed it in the eye with her sword. Another one charged and she disposed of it with a swing of her blade. Three more attacked and she reduced them all to piles of monster dust. Even more _Katoblepones_ charged and she exterminated them all. Some of the cow-like monsters created another poisonous miasma thicker than the one they created before. Lumina appeared from the forest and used her hand fans to blow away the mist. Together, she, Syllaby and Kam annihilated more of the beasts, making the rest run away in fear.

"Yeah, you better _steer_ clear if you _veal_-ue your lives!" Kam shouted to the retreating herd.

Frank groaned. "She sounds like Valdez."

Kam turned to face him. "Why? What's your _beef _with me?" Frank groaned louder in reply.

"Hmph." Veronica said then her expression suddenly changed to surprise when an arrow whizzed past her face, barely missing her by a centimeter. They looked to the left and found a squad of three gorgons armed with bows and arrows. One of the gorgons nocked an arrow, took aim at Kam and fired. The arrow would have killed her if Veronica hadn't moved to intercept it. She gasped as the arrow buried itself into her right shoulder.

Frank, Lumina and Miguel fired upon the gorgons, killing them quickly before they even had the chance to shoot again.

Everyone's attention shifted to Veronica, who was clutching her shoulder, the wound bleeding profusely. "How-" She began then gasped in pain. "Get it out!" She yelled through gritted teeth.

Hazel ran over to her and her hands hovered over the arrow. The shaft shuddered and slowly removed itself from Veronica's shoulder. Moments after, the bloody arrow was completely extracted and it fell to the ground.

Astrid heard a stomping in the woods accompanied by growling, snarling, hissing and goat sounds. The sounds got louder and louder and she realized that the monsters that she heard are closing in on them. She channeled her power and summoned a wall of ice in front of her, just as their mystery monsters burst from the woods.

Not monsters, rather, _monster._ What she has been hearing wasn't three separate entities, those sounds emanated from one beast with the body of a lion, the head of a goat and a hissing snake for a tail. The beast used its goat head to tackle the frozen barricade, causing fine cracks to appear on the ice's surface. She suddenly remembered what the monster was. It was a Chimera.

The Chimera breathed fire from the maw of its lion head and the wall started to melt. The searing flames that came from its mouth were so intense, that the barrier she had called up was reduced to a steaming puddle in a matter of seconds.

A big pack of hellhounds, a Cyclops, three Minotaurs, a group of Gorgons and five _Dracaenae _emerged from the undergrowth. Frank, Hazel, Veronica, Kamaria, Lumina, Katherine, Iridian, Anastasiya, Miguel and Nathan engaged the monsters, leaving her with the Chimera.

It tried to claw at her and she dodged. She countered by stabbing the monster's paw, securing its paw to the ground, making it stumble. It tried to stand up again, but its paw was already frozen and was secured to the ground with her spear.

The snake on the end of its tail reared back and struck quickly, biting her forearm. For a moment, she felt nothing, but soon, she felt the bite get more painful and she got dizzier. The Chimera's lion throat glowed red and emitted heat. She summoned a sphere of ice about the size of a tennis ball and lobbed it at the monster's open mouth, making it choke and stopping it from unleashing inferno.

While the lion was gagging on the lump in its throat, the goat head on its back lowered and leveled its horns, ready to charge and maul her to death with them. The snake tail bit on the spear and pulled it out, freeing the monster. It charged and Astrid jumped to the side, dodging the monster's attack. It hit a tree with enough force to knock it down. The goat looked dazed.

"Battering _ram._" Kamaria said as she stabbed a hellhound and it disintegrated. This time, it was Nathan who groaned.

The lion and the goat were disabled; all that was left now was the snake. It spat out the spear and reared its head back. It excreted a jet of venom from its mouth and it hit her forearm. The venom burned her skin and the affected area turned red and blistered.

The lion recovered and turned around. It took aim at her and prepared to breathe fire. Her arm burned like crazy and she felt even dizzier than before. She won't be able to jump out of the way and she was helpless. The Chimera would easily incinerate her.

Alex suddenly appeared from the shadows and cut off the snake head. The stump gushed with black blood as the monster squirmed and writhed in pain. It turned around to breathe fire on the son of Hades but he just shadow-traveled out of the way. The diversion gave her the opportunity she was looking for.

She stabbed the goat head, freezing that part. The lion roared, turned around and pounced, pinning her to the ground. The monster prepared to breathe fire at her face, but before it could do that, Astrid stabbed it between the eyes with an ice dagger. Frost radiated outwards from the wound and after a few moments, the Chimera was frozen solid and it shattered to bits.

She stood up and brushed the dirt from her hoodie. Suddenly, she felt the full effect of the toxin as it ravaged her system. The world around her spun in a blur and she felt nauseous and feverish. She fell to her knees and saw Miguel stride towards her.

He placed two fingers on the snake bite. "_Επικαλεστεί: Εκκαθάριση τοξίνη._" He said, but his voice was blurry, like he was speaking underwater. After a moment, she could feel her nausea alleviating and the world stabilizing. The poison was gradually being eradicated from her bloodstream.

He pulled a small bottle of nectar from his pocket, uncapped it and poured it on her arm on the rash. It stung even worse, but the pain nulled after a while. The rash and the blisters on her arm were gone, like she was never hit by the snake's venomous spit in the first place.

"Chimera venom…" Her friend muttered as he rubbed his temples. "Nasty stuff." He offered her his hand and helped her to her feet. He looked like he was about to pass out. "You okay?" He asked woozily. She nodded in reply.

Astrid looked around. They've annihilated every monster and no more appeared. Percy, Aine, Jason and Piper joined them. They were banged up as well, so they must have come from a fight. Festus flew above them and slowly landed. Atop the automaton's back was Leo, who had a wide grin on his face.

He dismounted the dragon. "You guys should have seen us!" He exclaimed excitedly. "They were running and screaming while burning and one of them even begged for his life. He was like: _Oh, great Leo, please spare me!_"

"That didn't happen at all." Another voice said. A figure dismounted Festus. She had pale skin, red, pouty lips, amber-brown eyes and caramel-colored hair that was braided over her shoulder. Her outfit consisted of a white shirt and blue denim jeans and simple leather sandals. It was Calypso, and judging from the quiver slung over her shoulder, she must have assisted in the battle as well. "And don't forget that I helped too!"

"You should have seen her in action!" Leo exclaimed in praise. "She pulled some kind of crazy titan magic and the monsters instantly turned to dust!"

"You're exaggerating. I used a minor amount of magic." She said. "I killed most of them with arrows."

"You're being modest, Sun-"

"Look." Calypso cut him off and pointed at the monster dust with a shocked expression. The dust swirled and started to rise; forming the shapes of the monsters they killed.

"Seriously?" Percy complained.

"That's not supposed to happen. They're supposed to stay dead." Annabeth replied. "We've closed the doors."

"Something is keeping them here." Calypso suggested. "Or someone. I can sense dark forces in motion."

"She's right, you know." A feminine voice said from the woods.

* * *

They turned their heads to the source of the voice. The speaker emerged from the woods. She was very tall and wore an assassin's uniform with the hood up and steel-toed boots like that of Assassin's Creed, but with a black and red color scheme. Astrid could tell that she was athletic, judging by her figure. There were throwing knives on her belt, a quiver on her back and a dagger in a sheath strapped to her right thigh.

"Who're you?" Frank questioned as he took aim at her.

"She threw her hood back, revealing pale but slightly tanned skin. Her jet-black hair was tied in a high ponytail and there was an unsightly scar on her face; it ran from above her eyebrow down to her jaw, somehow missing her eye. She smiled wryly, her blood-red eyes glinting with malicious intent. "Miss me?"

"Terra." Veronica snarled. "What are you doing here?"

"What's wrong?" Terra replied as she pouted her lips. "None of you look glad to see me."

"Don't play coy with us, Lumoise." Annabeth said.

"What have I done that made you all so mad at me?" Terra answered with a puppy-dog-eyes look.

"You betrayed us, Terra." Astrid answered. "You turned your back on us when Gaea awakened."

"Loyalties change, Astrid." Terra replied. "I serve a greater force after you meddling freaks defeated Gaea." She waved her hand and the dust on the ground beside her feet swirled and formed a snarling hellhound.

"You're the one keeping them here..." Miguel said.

"Yes and no." She answered. She stroked the hellhound's fur like it was her pet dog. "It my boss's power that keeps them from dying. I serve as the vessel of that power. My presence brings them back."

"Who exactly _is_ your boss?" Annabeth asked.

"My dad." Terra answered.

"The darkness that surrounds you… I never knew Tartarus a mortal child." Calypso mused.

"TARTARUS?!" All of them gasped.

"We have a winner!" Terra applauded. "Yes, Tartarus. He sent me here to kill you all so that no one interferes with his rise."

"Tartarus is waking?" Percy said incredulously.

"He told me that he faced you personally." Terra replied.

"_The dark god stirs and begins to wake..._" Piper mused. "That's what that line must be referring to."

"That's the new prophecy?" Terra mused. "Oh, well. Not like you'll live long enough to see it fulfilled." The piles of monster dust have already reformed and Terra's expression turned cold and harsh. "Kill them."

The monsters charged and attacked them. "Here we go again…" Leo grumbled.

Astrid found Terra standing idly by, tapping at her PDA's screen with a stylus. "I'll take her myself." She said then used the winds to jump higher than usual. She leapt over the mass of monsters and landed about a meter in front of Terra, who was staring at her handheld device's screen with intent.

"Astrid." She acknowledged her then put away her PDA. "Here to take me on, huh?" She taunted her. "Bring it."

Astrid charged with her spear leveled, ready to thrust the weapon into Terra's chest. She swerved left and avoided the attack. "Predictable." She taunted then held on to the spear and twisted, making Astrid let go, thus disarming her. A terrible mistake. Terra wasn't wearing gloves when she grabbed the spear, so she should have gotten a bad case of frostnip.

Terra hissed then retracted her hand. "I forgot how cold you can get…" She said as she sucked on her hand which was now red and stiff from the intense cold.

Astrid took her chance to retaliate. She quickly and repeatedly jabbed at her opponent, but she just managed to avoid almost every strike. She landed one hit and grazed Terra's shoulder. She kicked her back and threw three throwing knives. Astrid deflected two of them with her spear, but the third one stabbed her shin, making her fall to the ground on one knee.

Terra tapped her bracelet and it turned into a bow. She nocked an arrow, took aim at Astrid and fired. Before the arrow could reach her, Astrid called up a gust of wind that changed the arrow's trajectory, making it miss completely.

She pulled the knife from her leg and coated the wound with ice, lessening the bleeding and nulling the pain with cold. She shakily stood and brandished her spear, ready to charge at her again. Terra moved but didn't manage to evade. The spear made a cut on her side. She clutched her side and roundhouse kicked her, sending her back and making her lay flat on the ground.

Terra stepped on her chest, preventing her from standing up. She drew her dagger and raised it, getting ready to stab her and get it over with. "Any last words?"

Astrid saw a flicker of movement behind Terra, bringing a smirk to her face. "Look behind you."

Terra turned around just as her friend shouted an incantation. "_Επικαλεστεί: δύναμη παλμού!_" She was flung back by force and hit a tree. Miguel wasn't alone; he was with Aine and Calypso.

They readied their bows and fired upon Terra. Tendrils of darkness rose from her shadow and intercepted the arrows in midair. A wispy hand made of pure darkness erupted from her shadow and held the three down. Astrid retaliated by swinging her spear and hitting Terra in the back of her head with the shaft.

"That's i_t!_" She exclaimed then raised her hand. "_Incantare: Umbra Semita!_"

The air around her got darker and darker. The darkness radiated from her, its area of effect growing larger by the second. Soon, they were engulfed by the darkness.

The field changed. They were standing on flat plains. The grass was yellow and withering. The black trees were dead and leafless. The skies were pitch-black and the entire place was dimly lit, limiting their range of vision. Wispy, shapeless shadows wandered aimlessly across the plains, trailing darkness behind them. Tendrils of shadow burst from the dead vegetation every now and then, looking like black tentacles or dark, misshapen hands reaching upwards.

"A translocational spell…" Miguel mused, obviously impressed. "You brought us to your own field. I didn't know you do magic."

"Dark magic. One of the perks of being a daughter of Tartarus." Terra's voice answered. Astrid looked around but couldn't find her. The voice came from everywhere at once.

The darkness condensed in one spot in a swirling vortex. The shadows dissipated and Terra appeared. "You three, stay there." She said then hands of shadow appeared and held on to their wrists like shackles, preventing them from attacking. "This fight's between us."

She nocked an arrow into her bow and fired. Calypso tried to bend the winds, but with a realized with a shock that there were _no _winds here. The arrow impaled her shoulder, sending blinding pain along the entire length of her arm. "W-what?"

"No winds here, honey." Terra said with a triumphant smirk. She nocked another arrow and aimed. Despite the pain, Astrid stood up, pulled out the arrow and rolled to the left to avoid the arrow. She tried to freeze her wound, but nothing happened. "You can't use your ice powers here either."

Without the power to create even a spear, she was helpless. Terra aimed at her. "Have you said your goodbes?"

"She won't have to say that today." Calypso answered and Astrid turned to face her. "_Επικαλεστεί: Μεγάλη φως!_" A flash of bright light emanated from her palms and dispelled the shadowy limbs that restrained them.

"_Επικαλεστεί: Διαλύετε Διάσταση!_" Calypso cast a spell. The shadowy dimension they were in flickered out. The spell was canceled and they returned to the forest in the camp.

"We've still got much to learn." Aine said in awe and Miguel nodded his agreement. They were both powerful sorcerers, but they were still no match for Calypso's skill, even if she was stripped of her immortality and most of her powers. Calypso smirked in reply.

Terra snapped her fingers, no doubt a signal for aid. Nothing happened. She snapped her fingers again. This time, more furiously.

"You won't get any reinforcements this time." Aine said. "We've cast a bind over them. They won't be coming back to life any time soon."

"Then I guess I'll just have to do things myself!" Terra exclaimed. A multitude of shadow hands rose from her shadow and grabbed on to them, preventing them from moving. The hands started to constrict them, their grips surprisingly powerful for shadows.

"Put them down, now!" The voice of Percy Jackson demanded. They saw Iridian cut down one of the arms. Katherine squeezed one until it dissipated, Kam slashed at another, Lumina and Syllaby attacked and cut down an arm. Anastasiya cut one down with her machete, Veronica and Nathan repeatedly stabbed another with their spear and dagger, Alex used his own shadow powers to take control of an arm and Ryan slashed down the last one with his blades.

The shadow arms that restrained them were gone and now, Terra was surrounded. She had a shocked and amused expression on her face. "Well, now…"

"Put down your weapons and come with us." Percy ordered.

"Not an option." She pulled out a small sphere the size of a marble and threw it on the ground. It exploded, creating a thick haze that concealed her. Astrid called upon the winds to blow the smokescreen away. When the smoke dissipated, she was long gone.

"Dang." Leo snapped his fingers in frustration. "She got away."

"We better tell Chiron about this." Annabeth said. "I have a feeling that this isn't the last we've heard of her."

* * *

_ExiXIII:_ **Now you might be wondering, what is Calypso doing there? Let's just say that Leo has freed her before the events of this story.**

* * *

_**TRANSLATIONS**_

**GREEK: **_Επικαλεστεί: Εκκαθάριση τοξίνη – _Invoke: Purge Toxin; _Επικαλεστεί: Μεγάλη φως! – _Invoke: Great Light; _Επικαλεστεί: Διαλύετε Διάσταση – _Invoke: Dispel Dimension  
**LATIN: **_Incantare: Umbra Semita – _Incantation: Path of Shadow


	6. VI - A Day on the Beach

_ExiXIII - Pudding 21: _**Kam **_**does**_** resemble Nyssa in physical appearance, but I can't say whether they are the same in personality. Is your friend **_**Miss Genre Savvy**_** by any chance? Just a guess. Maybe I guessed wrong.**

* * *

"The first line of the prophecy…it refers to Tartarus?" Chiron mused.

The counselors were seated around the table and there were others with them as well. The rec room was still in disarray after Terra's attack; the books, trinkets, paddles, balls, pool sticks and some other stuff were scattered across the floor after being thrown from the shelves when the Big House shook.

"That's what Terra said." Percy confirmed.

"Tartarus waking...it cannot bode well." Chiron said with an expression of fear on his face. "If he rises, the world will end."

"What do we do now?" Annabeth asked.

"The prophecy must be fulfilled." Rachel answered.

"How? We don't even know who the new seven are." Clarisse pointed out with an irritated tone. "All we got is some vague hints from Mr. Fortune Teller right here."

"Call me that again and I'll turn you into a puddle of steaming goo." Miguel snapped back.

"The prophecy calls for a child of Ares, right?" Kam cut in before their quarrel escalated into a full-scale fight. "Someone with self-sacrifice?"

"Yes. Wait…" Miguel said with part confusion and part amazement on his face, as if he was wondering if Kam was a mind-reader. "How did you know that? You weren't here when I read the cards."

"Lumi told me." She answered. "The child of Ares you were talking about could be Veronica."

"What?" Veronica said incredulously.

"You jumped in front of me and took that arrow." Kam replied with a grateful tone. "Self-sacrifice."

"How about the second of the seven?" Chiron asked.

"A loner. Someone with great internal conflict." Miguel replied.

Travis snapped his fingers. "Alex."

"What was that?" Alex replied with annoyance.

"You _do _have internal conflict." Clovis said with a drowsy voice when he looked up from the throw pillow he brought from his cabin to the rec room. "Not to mention that you're alone most of the time." Then his head slumped back to his pillow.

"The third?" Chiron spoke up.

"It was a child of Hephaestus. Someone a bit naive, reckless and with a sense of humor." Miguel answered. "And it's not Leo." He continued before Leo could speak up.

"Maybe it's Kam." Hazel suggested.

"What?" Kam replied.

"You kept making puns while fighting." Frank pointed out.

"I wouldn't have killed the gorgons if they weren't _snaking_ around!" Kam said and laughed. Frank groaned loudly. "And those _Katoblepones_. Man, I've _herd_ enough of their bellowing." Frank groaned even louder.

"Annoying Zhang? That's my job!" Leo said, his eyes glinting with humor as he high-fived his half-sister.

"Like brother, like sister…" Frank grumbled. "Heidrich, who's the next one?"

"A child of Hermes. A diplomat. Someone with a way with words." Miguel answered.

"I know who!" Travis exclaimed.

"Who?" Clovis asked then Travis hit him behind the head.

"Nathan!"

"What makes you say that?" Nathan asked.

"You talked your way out of that scrap with the _Dracaenae._" Veronica pointed out.

"He _does_ have a way with words…" Miranda said dreamily and the Stoll brothers snickered.

"Miranda and Nathan sitting in a tree…" They sang in unison then Miranda used the leaves of a nearby potted plant to shut their mouths before they could even go K-I-S-S-I-N-G.

"Shut up." Miranda said, obviously flustered. "Who's the next one?" She asked before the Stolls could react.

He hesitated a bit then shot a sideways glance at Astrid. She understood what he had meant through that silent gesture. He thought that it was her. He must also be thinking of the reversed tower. "Someone cold, someone with control of air."

"Astrid." Aine spoke up. "I mean, she's cold. Both literally and figuratively." Jason shuddered in response, as if remembering the time Astrid froze his body. She can't help but smirk.

"Not to mention she can control air." Iridian concluded.

"Who'd you say the sixth was?" Katherine inquired then lighted a cigarette. She blew out a puff of smoke shaped like a ring that hit Caspian's face. He coughed then waved away the smoke with his hand.

"A son of Hecate. Trickery and impatience." Miguel answered.

"Sounds a lot like you." Astrid suggested and he shot her another sideways glance that said _no, shut up._

"Tricky and impatience…" Aine mused. "Sounds _exactly _like him."

"He _did _make a nice illusion and stealth tactic." Annabeth said. "The only flaw he made was not putting the captured ones in the jail."

"A mistake on my part." Miguel admitted and hung his head then it immediately snapped back up. "And in what way am I impatient?"

"You spammed a fire spell because you said that 'the fire's igniting _too_ slowly.'" Calypso pointed out.

"How about the last?" Chiron asked.

"The Moon." Miguel answered. "Could be Lumina. She was claimed by the moon goddess at the same time Rachel delivered a new prophecy."

"That can't be a coincidence." Rachel said.

"Now we got that settled." Alex spoke up.

"Yes, you leave on your quest tomorrow." Chiron declared. "Tartarus must be defeated before he wakes."

"Problem now is, _when _will he wake?" Percy asked. "Gaea chose the feast day of Spes, when will Tartie rise to full power?"

"We do not know. That is why it is paramount that the new seven depart as soon as possible." Chiron answered. "Now the meeting is concluded. All of you can return to your cabins and get some rest." The centaur left the room. Soon, everyone left the room.

Astrid went back to her cabin. There were hellhound tracks on the snow that surrounded it and claw marks on the wood, but no monsters. No _living _monsters, at least. There were about five hellhounds there that have been frozen solid by the cabin's automatic defense system that freezes nearby monsters. Some of the hellhounds' parts have broken off due to frostbite and another one was completely shattered. She called upon a gust of wind to blow on the ice sculptures and they all shattered to tiny bits which blended with the snow on the ground.

She opened the white door. Nothing inside was different, it was exactly the way she had left the cabin. The row of beds with cedar wood bases painted dark brown, white mattresses and icy-blue sheets on both ends of the cabin interior weren't touched. The white fur rug on the center of the floor with an emblem of a wind blowing from the north from a cloud with purple wings – the symbol of Boreas – didn't move. A difference between the exterior and the interior of the cabin was that the outside was surrounded by a cold aura while the inside was all warm and cozy.

She went over to the dresser took out her pajamas and went into a dressing room to change. She came out of the dressing room wearing her light blue snowflake pattern pajamas with her hoodie, camp shirt and jeans folded over her arm, which she put in the laundry bin. Then she lay on a bed, drew up the covers and soon drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Astrid woke the next morning. The sunlight was filtering through the frost on the windows, making shadows on the walls that were distorted yet intricate at the same time. She got up and performed her daily early morning routine.

She got a fresh camp shirt and jeans from the dresser and went into the shower. She came out of the shower newly bathed and dressed in her camp shirt and jeans. She was drying off her hair and looked out the window for a short while. She saw her Miguel whistling a tune and walking towards the general direction of Firework Beach.

She took a new gray hoodie from her dresser, put it on and left the cabin to follow him.

* * *

When Astrid got to the beach, Miguel was already sitting cross-legged in the sand, a thermos and two glasses beside him. He was reading one of his pocket edition grimoires.

The beach was calm, the waves lapping peacefully on the shore and the early morning sunlight tinged the sky with a yellow-orange color. It was quiet except for the sound of the sea and the sound of her friend flipping the pages on his spell book.

The reason he was on the beach with a thermos was because that they had this little ritual wherein when both of them had time to spare and aren't on any quests, they would go to the beach and drink glasses of hot chocolate – her favorite drink.

She walked over to him, the sand beneath her shoes freezing and sparkling like bits of glass. Her friend shuddered and muttered his cold protection ward. "Hello, Astrid." He greeted without turning around. "I was just about to send a courier. I didn't expect you to wake up so early."

She sat down on the sand so the thermos and the glasses were between them. She uncapped the thermos and poured the hot, brown liquid into one of the glasses and took a sip. "No, you knew that I was coming here and you've been sitting here waiting." She took another sip. "You still can't lie."

He closed his grimoire and it vanished into thin air. He turned to her with a sly grin on his face. "I knew you were following behind. The temperature dropped by, like, five degrees. Besides…" He said as he poured hot chocolate into the other glass. "We've been doing this little thing for years."

"So we leave for the quest later…this might be the last time we do this."

"Let's not think about that yet." He replied then took a sip of hot chocolate. "Who knows, we might be able to pull this off and return with our lives."

"We're going to have to get our stuff packed for later."

"We don't leave until 2. Until then, let's just enjoy this brief moment of respite."

They sat there and stared at the waves while drinking hot chocolate, something they have done for years since they first became friends five years ago.

* * *

_ExiXIII: _**A short chapter. Sorry about that, I ran out of ideas for what happened after Terra attacked and before Chiron gave them a quest. Anyways, in the next chapter, there'll be a POV switch that will go on for three chapters: 7, 8 and 9.**


	7. VII - The Quest Begins

_ExiXIII - Princess of Flames: _**I'm going to have to throw them into Tartarus first. *insert evil Riordan laugh here***

* * *

_ExiXIII: _**In this chapter, there will be another POV switch This time, we're seeing things from Veronica Morris's perspective and this is when they leave for their quest! *confetti***

* * *

Veronica woke up earlier than usual; the excitement must be getting to her. This was her first big quest. Sure, she'd been on quests before, like that time that she was sent to retrieve Aphrodite's missing hairbrush, but nothing like a Great Prophecy kind of quest.

Her other cabin mates were still fast asleep and snoring quite loudly that it almost rivals the loud rock music that was blaring from the speaker system. She looked outside the window, it was about 6:30, judging by the sun's position. She could see two silhouettes moving towards fireworks beach, but nothing of much importance.

They didn't have to leave until 2 pm, so she had about eight hours to pack, a lot of time. She got through her daily morning routine and getting ready for whatever the day might throw at her.

The breakfast horn sounded just as she came out of the showers fully dressed so she went to the dining pavilion.

* * *

The seven of the prophecy were seated around the same table; probably by order of Chiron. Most of them were already there: Lumina was talking to Kamaria, Miguel was chatting with Astrid, Nathan was rolling a coin on his knuckles and Alex was still half-asleep.

"Ah, the seven are complete." Chiron said, amused.

Veronica took a seat on the table. "I assume that you are ready for your quest?" The centaur inquired.

"Ready how?" Kam pointed out. "Because I haven't even started packing."

"He was referring to mental and emotional preparedness." Lumina stated.

"Well in that case, I'm ready for some suffering."

Somewhere in the mess hall, Leo's voice called out. "Hey, that's my line!"

"We're not completely ready…" Miguel said. "We don't even know where to start."

"We're facing Tartarus, yeah?" Nathan replied. "So, if Tartarus hasn't even awoken yet, naturally, the first place we can look is in Tartarus itself."

"Can't argue with that logic."

"All we need now is a way to get there." Veronica pointed out.

Chiron scratched his chin thoughtfully. "I think I might know how to provide you with transportation…"

"How?" Alex asked.

"Leave that to me." The centaur replied. "Now I have an announcement to make."

He raised a glass goblet and struck it with a fork to get the attention of the campers. The entire mess hall's attention was directed at him. They were dead silent, ready to listen to whatever the centaur had to say.

"Last night, the camp was attacked by a horde of monsters led by Terra Lumoise. It was also last night that we discovered that she is a..." Chiron hesitated, cleared his throat and continued, "daughter of Tartarus."

Everyone in the mess hall stirred and began talking amongst themselves. Veronica could hear bits of conversation between the campers.

"Terra is Tartarus's daughter?"

"I thought Tartarus was a place..."

"No wonder she's so..._dark_."

"Her father is beginning to wake, which is what the prophecy was referring to. That is not a good sign, which is why we have launched a quest." Chiron gestured toward them. "They are the new seven of the new great prophecy."

The entire mess hall broke into cheers and congratulations. They were cheering and shouting out their names, especially the Ares cabin, who was shouting hers out with such loud voices that one cabin' voice almost rivalled the collective cheering of twenty-two cabins.

"Morris! Morris! Morris!"

"Veronica!"

"They shall be leaving later at two p.m. To partake in their quest." Chiron finished and turned to face Leo, who was doing a Hephaestian handshake with Kam. "Leo, come with me. There's something I need to talk to you about." The centaur left the mess hall with Leo following behind, a gulity and confused expression on his face.

"Well, looks like everybody knows now." Miguel muttered.

The Ares cabin rushed. To her and tackled her with congratulatory hugs from the girls and handshakes with crushing grips from the boys.

"New hero of the Great Prophecy, huh?" Sherman inquired with an excited tone of voice.

"So you're the new hero of the prophecy..." Another voice said. She recognized the speaker. It was Clarisse.

"Why? You got a problem with that?" Veronica replied.

"Yeah. It should be me who's going out on that quest! It should be me who's going to bring pride and glory to dad and his cabin!"

"Since when did you bring pride and glory to cabin 5?" Mark questioned.

"Don't be such a baby about this, LaRue." Veronica continued

"What was that?" Clarisse exclaimed with outrage.

"I said stop being such a baby." Veronica repeated herself with a matter-of-fact tone. "The prophecy's already been said and I have already been chosen."

"Yeah, by Madame Heidrich and his mystical cards of wonder."

"What was that?" Miguel's voice spoke up from somewhere in the crowd.

"What's your point?" Veronica said.

"You could or couldn't be the hero of the prophecy." Clarisse answered. "Who knows, he might be wrong or that hocus-pocus of his is a hoax."

"I assure you that it is no 'hoax'." Miguel's voice said from behind Clarisse, which made the Ares counselor jump and turn around and grab him by the collar of his shirt. "I've redone the readings. Even though there may be differences in the cards, they still point to the same people. The cards never said anything about you."

Some of the Ares campers snickered and some went _oh, snap!_

"You heard him." Veronica gloated.

"Fine." Clarisse let go of the son of Hecate and stormed away, grumbling.

When she was out of sight, Sherman spoke up. "What was that about?"

"I'd say thanks, but why'd you help me?" Veronica asked.

"As much as I'd hate to go on the quest with you on board, I'd hate to go with Clarisse even more so." Miguel answered. "Besides, the cards really did call for you, much to my surprise."

Chiron and Leo went back into the mess hall and Leo returned to his half-siblings. The centaur called for the seven to gather around him. "I've gotten you a means of transportation." He declared.

"Lemme guess. It's the Argo II, isn't it?" Kam inquired and Chiron nodded.

"It's probably going to need a lot of work." Leo proposed behind them. With him was the entirety of Cabin 9. "Festus's figurehead was removed so that's going to disable some of the better stuff like sonar or autopilot or auto-aim."

"The figurehead can probably be replaced with a new system, but that's going to be hard." Kam mused.

"That's why we gotta start now!" Leo said then went out of the mess hall with the rest of Cabin 9 and Kam followed.

"The rest, you can start preparing for later." Chiron spoke up. "You can pack your belongings or say your farewells."

* * *

Veronica didn't have a lot of stuff so it was quite easy packing up. She retrieved sets of clothes from her drawer and put them in bags. She also retrieved some other trinkets like the coin that turns into her shield and spear when flipped, some posters of rock bands or pictures of WWII and some of her personal rock playlists. She stuffed all of those into bags and by ten o' clock, she was ready to go.

She still had four hours of free time, so she went to the Arena for a bit to practice with her weapon. Not that she needed it, she was a daughter of Ares. They learn how to use a weapon just by touching one. She just went to the Arena to practice because she liked it.

She went out of the cabin and tossed the coin. It morphed into a shield and spear in midair. She caught the shield with her left hand and the spear stuck out of the ground in front of her, so she pulled it out and wielded it. She headed towards the Arena to spar for a bit.

On the way there, she could see the Hephaestus kids installing a new figurehead on the decommissioned Argo II. They were working quickly and frantically, rushing to make a new system for the ship before they leave at two.

Seeing the ship made her feel more excited and even more anxious at the same time. This was her first big quest and she isn't really experienced yet due to the fact that she's been in camp for just a year.

She reached the Arena. At this time, everyone was either in Archery class or foot racing with dryads, so the Arena was vacant. Inside were about ten straw training dummies, some of them with arrows sticking out of their chests and some had their heads cut off. There was a monster - a pack of five hellhounds - prowling the Arena and an opened crate on the Arena's far end. They must have been used for monster defense class. Class is over by this time, so she had all these hellhounds for her to slaughter.

"Hey, dog breath!" She taunted and attracted the attention of the hellhounds.

The monsters charged. She parried one of the hellhound's attacks, making it stagger. She impaled it with her spear and it immediately burst into dust. The others attacked with their teeth and claws, trying to claw at her bronze sheet as if it were a scratching post. She whacked one in the head and it yelped and flinched. She ran her spear through it and it turned to dust. The other three attacked her simultaneously. She killed one before it could even reach her, she killed the second by making it flinch with a parry and the third one tried to run away, but she threw her spear like a javelin, killing the fleeing monster anyways.

That barely even took up fifteen minutes and she was bored. There was still a lot of time before they leave and she had nothing better to do so she just continued her training with the straw dummies until Chiron called them.

* * *

Chiron called them an hour later, three hours earlier than originally scheduled.

"The ship was completed quicker than I've thought." Chiron mused in appreciation.

The Argo II loomed before them, a trireme-like ship with ballistae, cannons, flying capabilities and more. It had a new figurehead: a bronze sculpture of Nike, the winged goddess of victory. Their stuff was already sitting in a neat pile in front of the ship, near the plank with which they'll board the ship. The air spirits must have brought it there.

"A beauty, isn't it?" Leo said in wonder.

Chiron faced them. "Are you ready to depart or do you want to wait until two?"

"I'm ready to go bust some heads!" Kam said excitedly.

"I don't have much to do here now, anyways." Alex said.

"I'm ready to go now." Lumina stated.

"There's nothing more I can do here." Nathan said.

"I can't wait any longer!" Miguel exclaimed.

"Let's just go already." Astrid said.

Veronica looked around. The cabins stood nearby, and there were her half-siblings and the rest of the campers cheering them on. This might be the last time she gets to see this place. Even though she's been here for a year, she's come to like the camp of demigods, so there was still that small part of hers that was reluctant to go, but a much bigger part that screamed its excitement in participating in the quest.

"I'm ready." She finally said.

They mounted the Argo II and looked over the railing. The campers were waving and shouting out "good luck" or "don't die out there!"

"Take one good look..." Nathan muttered under his breath. "This could be the last time we get to see Camp Half-Blood."

Kam took her position behind the control panel and flipped some switches. A loud humming came from below decks and it settled after some time. "This ship's gonna sail! To Tartarus or bust!"

The ship began to rise from the ground. Moments after, the ship was at a high altitude above camp as she could see an eagle's eye view of the camp. The cabins, the Arena, the forest, the forges, everything on half-blood hill was now a lot tinier and soon, they were but indistinguishable specks on the ground. Everything was replaced by a big red barn and a strawberry plantation. They've left the camp's perimeters. Their quest has begun.


	8. VIII - A Bet

They've been flying for an hour and they were already bored. Veronica was expecting to meet more monsters on this quest, so she could have something to stick her spear into.

Earlier today, they've faced minor groups of monsters, ranging from a stray harpy to a hungry gryphon. Seeing these monsters made her excited to fight, her being a daughter of Ares and all. She was eager to impale the beasts with her spear and maybe even roll around in their dust, but before she could do so, her other crewmates intervened, dispatching the monsters before she even had the chance to thrust her spear. They've faced so many in such small numbers; they've decided to make a game out of it.

They were comparing the number of kills for fun, a game suggested by Kam after the third Harpy that attacked them died. A harpy was worth three points and a gryphon was worth five. Lumina was leading at twenty points, Kamaria was second with eighteen points, Alex and Astrid were tied at fifteen points, Miguel had fourteen points, she had twelve and Nathan had nine. Sixth wasn't really a position she liked, but at least she wasn't last.

"What should we get for the winner?" Kam inquired giddily, her deep, brown eyes gleaming with excitement.

"How about the losers become the winner's personal servants until dinner?" Alex suggested, laughing at his own proposition.

"You're on." Lumina answered with a proud smirk. "I hope all of you know how to groom a silver wolf."

"Not if I can help it." Veronica answered back.

"I'd like to see you try." Alex spoke up with a wide, challenging grin.

"Why not start now?" Miguel said as he pointed at something in the distance. There was a black cloud hovering in the sky in front of them – and it seemed to be moving. They got closer to the cloud and began to hear faint, angry squawking. Soon, the squawking got louder and the cloud's surface rippled. It was then when she realized that it wasn't a cloud and that they weren't going toward it. _It _was going toward _them_. It was a large flock of harpies, all of them riled up by the death of their sisters.

"A chance to redeem myself!" Nathan exclaimed and prepared himself for a fight.

"_Επικαλεστεί_…" Miguel began but was stopped by Lumina.

"_Non, non._" She said as she wagged her finger. "No spells." She nocked an arrow and prepared to fire at the flock then this time, it was Miguel who stopped her.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk." He said as she slowly shook his head. "No preemptive strikes either."

"They'll be upon us soon." Astrid said with her usual monotonous voice. "Brace yourselves."

"Oh my gods, how many are there?" Alex said with fear and excitement.

"A lot." Nathan answered. "Here they come!"

The first harpies landed on the ship's deck and dispatching them was easy. They were fumbling around and impaling them with her spear was really simple. She was racking up points every time a monster was reduced to dust by her hand. She killed about ten of the half-bird monsters before the first wave ended.

"Okay," she said, panting and slightly sweaty. "How many did I get?"

"_Πίνακας αποτελεσμάτων._" A scoreboard with seven squares showing digital numbers – one for each of them – appeared from the mist and hovered over the control panel. Hers showed "42", Lumina's showed "50", Kam's was at "45", Miguel had 43 points, Astrid and Alex had the same score as hers – 42 – and Nathan had 39. Being tied at fourth place wasn't so bad, at least she's making progress.

"Do you know how hard it is to kill a harpy with a dagger?" Nathan complained.

"That's why I use spears." She said then twirled her spear like a baton.

"Cut the chatter, here comes the second wave!" Alex warned as another swarm of harpies landed on the ship's deck.

This particular batch of bird-hags was more violent than the last. They had sharper claws, better fighting skills, nastier attitudes and much, _much_, uglier faces.

"Talk about hag…" She said. Her statement gained sharp glares from the harpies.

"Watch your tongue, fool, or I will cut it off." The Harpy snarled with a raspy voice as it brandished its sharp talons as if it was trying to show off.

"Harpies can talk?" She replied in half-amazement.

"Ella." Nathan pointed out.

"Oh. Well," she turned back to the harpy. "Not if I kill you first." She replied and thrust her spear into the Harpy's chest. It bled black blood and dissolved to dust soon after. A ding behind her sounded – the scoreboard gave her another three points. That was the harpies' cue to attack.

They charged quicker than the previous batch, one of them even managed to land a hit. It slashed her shoulder, making three long, bleeding cuts that hurt like having knives impaling her skin with lemon juice being rubbed all over the wound. Good thing that it was her left arm, because if it was her right arm, she wouldn't have been able to attack.

She stabbed the bird-hag in retaliation and it was reduced to dust. The scoreboard dinged and she swung her spear in a wide horizontal arc, making sure that the spear tip made a long gash across two other harpies' stomachs. They were reduced to dust after bleeding through their gut wounds and the scoreboard dinged twice.

She turned around to see her score. She now had 54 points and was at second place, with Lumina leading at a score of 59.

"I've got to step up my game." She said and took a deep breath. A harpy behind her froze and turned to an ice sculpture. Out of its chest was a spear made entirely of ice – Astrid's weapon. She grabbed the spear and pulled it out of the frozen harpy's chest, making it shatter to tiny bits. The spear was cold, but her leather gloves prevented that cold from giving her frostnip. Now she had two spears, meaning she can kill Harpies twice as faster and gain points twice as fast.

Two more harpies came for her, their sharp talons ready to cut her to tiny, bite-sized pieces. She just held out her spears and waited for the bird-hags to run into their points. They tried to stop, but their momentum didn't let them. They charged to their deaths. The spears impaled them and they were reduced to dust. The scoreboard dinged twice. "VERONICA MORRIS IS DOMINATING!" The scoreboard announced, which made a smirk crawl across her face.

"What? No!" Lumina exclaimed then fired three arrows from her bow, killing three harpies.

"LUMINA STARLING IS DOMINATING!" The scoreboard said.

Veronica felt over competitive. She charged with her two spears before her, ploughing through harpies and making bird-hag shish kabob.

She killed six of the monsters and they all were reduced to dust. The scoreboard dinged six times, giving her eighteen more points. "VERONICA MORRIS IS DOMINATING!"

She turned to check on the scoreboard. She was leading with a score of 78 points. Lumina came second with 71 points, Miguel was at 67 points, Astrid was at 66 points and Kam, Alex and Nathan were tied at 57 points.

"I hope you know how to polish a shield correctly!" Veronica shouted to Lumina, who vigorously shot down harpies in an attempt to get her points up.

Veronica finished off the last harpies of the second wave and the scoreboard dinged thrice. The last wave of harpies was flying in front of the ship, but still far away, so she figured that they had about thirty seconds of rest.

She was exhausted, sweaty and wounded. She was panting and her legs felt like giving up. It must be whatever toxin there was on the harpy's claw. She looked around. Everyone was panting, exhausted and wounded.

"Gather around." Miguel said as he gestured for them to gather near him. He put his palm flat on the deck and muttered an incantation. "_Επικαλεστεί: μάζα αναζωογόνηση._" A green ring spread outward from underneath his palm. It formed a borderline around them and it glowed brighter. She could feel her exhaustion leave her body and the pain in her shoulder disappeared. The three long gashes that the harpies have made closed up. They were all completely healed.

"You…you go on without me…" Miguel panted after the green ring dissipated. "I'm in…no condition to fight." He sat against a ballista and rubbed his temples. "That spell drained me… Here comes the third wave."

Kam had enough time to run to the control panel and flip a switch. Dubstep music came from the speakers as she ran back to take her position. "What?" She said with a wry grin. "It's a nice idea."

The last wave landed on the deck, but this particular batch was different – they were armed. Some of them wore leather armor, some had swords, some had bows and some were fully armored with a sword and shield.

"What is this, a video game?!" Alex complained. "What, are we going to kill them off only to get stronger monsters to fight?"

"I don't know about you, but I like the sound of that." She replied eagerly.

She charged first, partly because she was excited, partly because she needed to keep her score up. Her spear (her normal one) hit the shield of a harpy who tried to defend. It flinched, leaving it vulnerable. She thrust the ice spear into its chest and it turned into ice that shattered to bits.

"I don't know about you, but I'm not letting her win." Lumina said as she nocked an arrow into her bow and killed a harpy. "I don't want to be a tyrant's servant!"

"YOU SHALL RECEIVE THE PROPER SANCTION ONCE I WIN THIS." Veronica replied as she stabbed another two harpies with her spears. A harpy attacked, ripping through her shirt and vest and making a long gash on her back which she was sure was bleeding profusely. The harpy behind her was finished off by Nathan.

A harpy jumped toward her and brought down its sword. Veronica crossed her spears and caught the descending blade before it had the chance to slice her in half.

"Surrender now. Do not make this any harder on yourself." The harpy snarled as it tried to push its blade down.

She pushed her spears up, making the harpy stagger. She thrust both spears into its chest while it was vulnerable. Black blood dripped from its mouth. She pulled the spears out and the monster disintegrated, leaving only its leather chest plate and its celestial bronze sword. She dropped Astrid's ice spear and picked up the harpy's sword. _It's easier to fight a lot of monsters with a slashing and piercing weapon_. She thought to herself.

She swung the sword and cut off the heads of three harpies. She then thrust her spear, impaling another one. The scoreboard dinged four times, giving her twelve more points.

"Twelve points to Veronica!" She exclaimed enthusiastically as she sliced a harpy in half. "How're you doing there, Lumi?"

"Quit your gloating, I'm gonna wipe the floor with your butt." Lumina replied.

"I don't think so!" She answered and stabbed a harpy that she had pinned to the floor. It turned to dust almost immediately and the scoreboard dinged again.

A few of the harpies remained and the deck was littered with blood, discarded weapons and monster dust. The harpies have significantly less numbers than they originally had.

"Fall back! Fall back!" The ugliest harpy of them all commanded. The harpies ran away and took flight, leaving weapons and feathers on deck as they retreated. The remaining harpy faced them with a sneer and with anger in its eyes. "Remember this, demigod fools," it said with a hoarse, raspy voice, "lord Tartarus shall rise again, and nothing shall interfere with his waking. He shall emerge victorious."

"Yeah, yeah. Tartarus, waking up, emerging victorious, we got it already." Alex said with a mocking tone. "Now get out of here, birdbrain, before someone decides to kill you."

The harpy snarled and took flight. "Eh, I could use the points." Lumina said as she nocked an arrow into her bow and fired. The arrow struck the bird-hag square in the back and it disintegrated to dust that was blown away by the wind.

"That's the last of 'em." Nathan said, exhausted.

Veronica turned to the scoreboard. Veronica – 102, Lumina – 98, Astrid – 96, Kamaria – 90, Nathan – 87, Alex – 84, Miguel – 67. She won.

"Looks like I win." Veronica said with a proud smirk. "You're all my personal servants until dinner."

Everyone on board groaned. She laughed out loud.

* * *

_**TRANSLATIONS**_

**GREEK: **_Πίνακας αποτελεσμάτων __– _Scoreboard; _Επικαλεστεί__: __μάζα__αναζωογόνηση__ – _Invoke: Mass Reinvigoration  
**FRENCH: **_Non – _No


	9. IX - Servitude

_ExiXIII: _**Sorry it took so long to update, there was this big school project that I had to do. I barely had time to write, what with my tight schedule and all. Anyways, here it is.**

* * *

"This ship is filthy!" Veronica said, half-gloating as she wiped her finger across the dust-covered floor. Her finger was coated with golden monster dust and she put it close to her face and squinted to pretend like she was closely inspecting the remnants. "Heidrich, clean this up!"

"What?" Miguel exclaimed woozily from his position beside the ballista. "Why me?"

"Because I said so."

"Ugh, fine." He splayed his fingers – a spell, no doubt.

"No magic." She stopped him before he could even finish. He scowled, but he still looked drunk and dizzy. "Clean it up the old-fashioned way: with a broom."

Grumbling, he stood up and stumbled a bit. He went below decks to retrieve a broom from the storage area, stumbling along the stairs as he went.

"What should I make the rest of you do?" She wondered aloud as she tapped her foot. She looked up to estimate the time according to the sun's position. By her estimates, it could be about 1:30. Dinner starts at 6:00 pm, so she still had 4 hours and 30 minutes to order them around.

She glanced at her shield, which was dented, scratched and coated with blood, dust and harpy feathers. Her spear's point was covered in blood and dust as well, and the spearhead looked a bit blunt. "Starling!" She called out as she turned to face said person, "Polish my shield and sharpen that spear!"

Veronica put her equipment on the deck floor and waited for Lumina to get it. Syllaby pulled the spear like it was a stick used for fetch. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?" She asked through narrowed eyes. Veronica chuckled in response. _Of course _she was enjoying this. Lumina headed below decks to get cleaning supplies from the storage area. Miguel climbed out a moment after she descended, holding a broom and dustpan in each hand. He even had a white apron on and a bandanna covering his mouth.

"You look dressed for the part." Astrid commented with her usual straight face and monotone voice, but Veronica could tell that she was trying not to laugh. She could see that her fingers were drumming nervously on her thigh – a sign that she was trying to control herself.

The son of Hecate shot her a glare and headed to the base of one of the masts and started sweeping the golden dust. "This is going to take a long time…"

A crazy idea struck Veronica. "Byrn, get me a lawn chair!"

Nathan trudged off, mumbling, "Why did I even accept this bet?"

"Oh, and you two," Veronica said as she pointed at Alex and Kam. "Get some fans from below decks."

The two headed below decks with nervous faces, as if they already know what's going to happen.

The only people on deck now were her, Miguel – who was sweeping the floor and sneezing every now and then – and Astrid, who was talking to Miguel as he swept away the dust. He seemed to be the only person in camp who was able to befriend her somehow as she was cold and distrusting towards everyone – except him. Veronica was starting to wonder if there was something going on between them, but as she was thinking about it, Nathan came up from below decks with a lawn chair. Alex and Kam emerged soon after with each of them holding a big fan.

"Good. Set it up right there." She ordered and Nathan put the lawn chair near the base of the other mast. She took a seat, and Alex and Kam looked more agitated than they were before. Veronica snapped her fingers. "You two, fan me."

Alex gulped. He looked like he was expecting this. They fanned her like she was a queen, and she was really enjoying this. "Abadeer, get me some lemonade."

Astrid went below decks to get a glass of lemonade for Veronica. Minutes later, Astrid came up from below decks, a glass of lemonade in her hand.

"Give it to me." Veronica ordered and Astrid gave her the drink. "This isn't even cold."

Astrid sighed her exasperation and touched the side of the glass with her finger. The drink cooled almost instantly. "Good. Now, make a cool breeze blow." Moments after, a cool wind blew across the ship, tousling their hair slightly.

"I think you're being abusive of power." Nathan said with a small voice.

"So what?" Veronica answered, half-snarling. "I won the game, you're my personal servants." Everyone who was presently on deck glared at Alex, who waved his free hand defensively.

"Don't be so full of yourself. It's only until dinner." Alex pointed out.

"Ugh, four hours of working for this tyrant..." Kam mumbled.

"Nathan, fetch me a sandwich." Veronica commanded and Nathan went to the dining room to get her a sandwich.

A gryphon roared in the distance and Astrid created an ice spear which she threw. The airborne monsters roared in pain as the frozen spear impaled it and turned it to solid ice. "I've got to lay some wards on this ship…" Miguel muttered as he watched the frozen monster plummet from the sky.

Nathan came from below decks a moment after, carrying a platter with a sandwich the way a waiter would. He offered Veronica the sandwich in a servile manner, like a butler. Lumina emerged from below decks as well, carrying Veronica's shield and spear while Syllaby pulled a rag and a bottle of Windex.

"Don't kowtow!" Lumina exclaimed as she climbed up the stairs that connects the ship's levels. "You'll only encourage her." Lumina sat down at a dust-free spot and started polishing the shield with the rag and the Windex.

Astrid mumbled and Veronica was sure that she heard her say "despot" under her breath.

"How much longer?" Kam asked with a sigh.

Alex glanced at his wristwatch. "Four hours." Everyone on board groaned, making Veronica laugh a bit.

* * *

All good things must end eventually. The sun was setting as Alex's wristwatch bleeped an hourly alarm.

"6 o' clock! The bet's off!" Alex declared. Everyone on board aside from Veronica cheered. Miguel dropped the broom and undid the bandanna on his face, Alex and Kam stopped fanning Veronica, Astrid stopped the cool breeze and fell to her knees in exhaustion and Nathan removed the maid apron that Veronica made him wear as part of the bet and slammed it on the ground.

"Finally!" Lumina heaved a relieved sigh. "I didn't think I can withstand serving that- that- despot!"

Kam hit Alex behind his neck and pointed an accusing finger at him. "Don't think of proposing any more bets like that!"

"Well it was you who proposed giving the winner something…" Alex replied as he rubbed the spot where Kam hit him.

"Yeah, but who suggested that we give the winner authority?" Kam said and Alex let loose a small laugh.

"Enough of this, it's time for dinner. Let's get something to eat." Miguel suggested and headed downstairs toward the mess hall. Everyone followed.

"It was fun while it lasted…" Veronica mumbled before descending into the ship's lower levels.

* * *

The dining room's walls were showing live feed of Camp Half-Blood. It was night there and dinner had already begun as Veronica could see campers throwing offerings into the offering fire. She felt a bit homesick by just watching the camp.

"So, where's our destination?" Kam asked as she took a bite from a cheeseburger.

"Tartarus." Nathan answered.

"Only problem is," Miguel began with a perplexed look on his face, "how do we _get _to Tartarus?"

Alex gulped. "There is only one way into Tartarus, and finding it's very tricky. Passing through it, even trickier."

A look of horror and understanding showed on Lumina's face. "You don't mean…the Doors of Death?"

Everyone fell silent at the mention of the doors. The only sound in the room was made by Kam chewing and swallowing another bite of cheeseburger.

"Isn't there another way?" Nathan asked, breaking the unnerving silence.

"No, I'm afraid not." Alex answered. "The Doors are the only way in. There's another, but it's sure to kill us. The last time someone went through that path, they fell for days, almost became splats on Tartarus and they had to swim in the Cocytus."

Veronica knew what he was referring to. It's a famous story around camp – the time Percy and Annabeth fell into Tartarus through the hole Arachne had made.

"Looks like the Doors are our best option." Astrid pointed out.

"Problem now is: how do we get there?" Miguel stated.

"Epirus?" Nathan suggested.

"No, the Doors are no longer in the _Necromanteion_." Alex answered. "The Doors move every time it's used, so it can't be there."

"How do we reach the Doors then?" Kam asked with a slight tone of irritation.

"Only one person knows where the Doors are." Lumina answered. "But none of us know where he is right now."

"Who?" Veronica asked.

"Thanatos."

"Someone give me a drachma. I'm going to call someone." Astrid said and Nathan tossed her one golden drachma. "Miguel, create a rainbow."

"_Επικαλεστεί: Πλάθω ουράνιο τόξο._" A small rainbow shimmered into existence in front of Astrid and she threw the drachma into it. The rainbow flickered and the drachma disappeared upon touching it.

"O Iris, goddess of the rainbow, please accept my offering."

A voice spoke up from the rainbow. "Iris is busy at the moment. You can try a different incantation, though." The voice giggled. "Say: _O Fleecy, do me a solid. Show me insert name here._"

"O Fleecy, do me a solid. Show me Iridian Blackwell."

The rainbow flickered and when it stabilized, a holographic image of Iridian appeared. She had a surprised expression on her face. "Astrid?" She began.

"Iridian, we need to ask you something." Astrid replied in a tone that meant business. "Do you know where your dad is?"

"Well, no. No one knows where he is. Why?"

"He knows where the Doors of Death are. We need to get to it and he's the only one who knows where it is."

The surprised look on Iridian's face changed to shock. "The Doors of Death?"

From the rainbow, the voices of stirring campers came. They must have been listening to the entire conversation. The images on the walls of the dining room showed the campers talking amongst themselves and looking to Iridian and the rainbow in front of her. They _have_ been listening.

"Why do you need to get to the Doors?" Chiron asked. His face appeared in the holographic image soon after.

"We need to get to Tartarus. It may be the only way in." Miguel answered.

"There's a reason Thanatos keeps the Doors hidden and why _he _remains hidden."

"How are we supposed to get to Tartarus now?" Nathan asked.

Chiron hesitated then spoke. "If you really need to find the Doors, then you need Thanatos. You can ask his brother as to where he is. Perhaps he may know."

"His brother?" Alex spoke up.

"Hypnos." Lumina replied.

"Okay then, but where _exactly _can we find Hypnos?" Kam asked.

"His son, Morpheus, knows." Chiron replied.

"Okay, how do we find Morpheus?" Veronica asked.

"Morpheus is the god of dreams." Chiron answered. "You don't find him; he finds you."

"Through dreams…" Nathan mused. "I know how to find Morpheus."

"Thank you, Chiron and Iridian. Sorry to disturb you." Astrid said and swished her hand across the rainbow, ending the call.

"What's the plan?" Veronica asked.

"We find Morpheus through our dreams." Nathan answered. "Then we can ask him about Hypnos."

* * *

At 10:00 pm, they all got ready for bed, except Lumina, who went up to the deck.

"Aren't you going to sleep?" Veronica asked as Lumina climbed up the staircase that connected the ship's levels.

"I'm a daughter of Artemis. I have to bask in the moonlight every full moon or else my hair will turn black, my skin would become pale and I would become weak and frail. I can't afford to sleep during a time like this." Lumina answered and continued up the staircase, Syllaby trotting behind.

Veronica shrugged and entered the bedroom. She threw herself onto the bed and soon fell asleep.

* * *

_**TRANSLATIONS**_

**GREEK: **_Επικαλεστεί__: __Πλάθω__ουράνιο__τόξο__ – _Invoke: Conjure Rainbow


	10. X - Dreamwalker I

_ExiXIII: _**UPDATE! This one's going to be a long one…**

* * *

It was a good thing Lumina didn't go to sleep that night because if she had, their quest would have already ended before it even lasted twenty-four hours.

She was sitting cross-legged on the deck with Syllaby sleeping peacefully on her lap. She was brushing the sleeping cub's sliver fur and admiring the moonlight. As a daughter of Artemis, she had to do this every time the moon is full. She had to bask in the moonlight or else she would weaken. The moon was bigger than usual and it emitted a beautiful silver radiance which painted the waves silver with its reflection.

"Mom?" She called out to Artemis, the goddess of the moon and her mother. "I- we need help. We need to find Morpheus, but we don't know how."

No response. She mustn't have heard her call out. Maybe it's because she wasn't yet accustomed to being called mom, her being her first daughter, after all.

She continued brushing Syllaby's fur. The wolf cub tossed and turned and her eyes snapped open. She barked at the darkness of the night, as if there were an intruder present. If there _were_ a monster, she would have felt its presence and maybe even smelled it. Hunter's instinct – one among the many perks of being a Hunter. She didn't sense anything, so Syllaby could be barking at nothing in the middle of the night, like dogs always do. There was a story related to that – the tale of the ghost goddess Melinoe. Every night, she would rise from the underworld to terrorize the mortal realm, which explains why dogs bark at nothing at night. Syllaby never barked pointlessly before, so why start now? If she was barking, then she _must _be barking at something she couldn't see.

"What is it girl?" She asked and Syllaby barked even louder, this time, she was turning her head towards random directions and snarling.

At first, Lumina thought there was nothing there, but then, she caught a flicker of movement at the corner of her eye. When she turned to face what had moved, there was nothing there, not even a silhouette, but Syllaby kept barking.

She drew her silver hand fans and opened them, the blades glinting in the silver moonlight. "Show yourselves!" She demanded. Nothing happened. A moment later, something moved at the corner of her eye, but when she turned to face it, it was gone. Again.

Syllaby stopped barking. For a moment, it was dead silent. There was no sound except for the quiet whistling of the gentle night breeze and the sound of waves lapping against the hull of the ship. A moment later, a high-pitched scream broke the unnerving silence, followed by more horrified screaming. It was her crewmates. Whatever was on the ship was attacking them, so she shot to her feet and dashed toward the staircase that led below decks and descended.

Deck One showed no signs of a fight, nor were there any signs of force. There walls were clean, the floor showed no tracks and the doors haven't even been opened yet, but inside their rooms, her crewmates were screaming in horror. The sound is so blood-curdling, that whatever horror now lurks these halls might possess great strength.

She went over to Kam's room. Another scream emanated from behind the door. She took a deep breath and kicked the door near the doorknob, forcing it open. There her friend was, tossing and turning on her bed and screaming in horror, but there was no monster there. It's possible that it could have been just a nightmare, but everyone on board was screaming, so she kicked open the doors to their rooms one by one, only to find the others screaming in their sleep. She was now sure that there was some sort of monster or dark force at work here, but she just could sense it.

"Come on, wake up! Why won't any of you wake up?" She ran frantically between the rooms, shaking her crewmates to try and get them to wake up and snap out of their nightmares. "What's going on?"

"I believe I have the solution to that." A male voice answered behind her. She turned around to find a man dressed in black, flowing robes. His hair was gray-white and his eyes were blue, but his face, his face was constantly shifting, as if he were a mirage. His presence alone was enough to make her drowsy, but she didn't succumb to sleep, lest she might be affected by whatever affliction befell her crewmates.

"Who're you?" She questioned, trying to keep herself from falling asleep.

"I am Morpheus."

* * *

Before her stood the God of Dreams; the god Chiron had told them to find.

"Are you causing all of this?" Lumina interrogated the Sandman, half-snarling.

Morpheus shook his head. "No." He turned his attention to her crewmates, who were screaming and tossing and turning in their sleep. "They have been overtaken by my brothers, the _Melas Oneiroi_, The spirits of nightmares."

Lumina remembered something about Morpheus. He was the leader of the _Oneiroi,_ the winged _daimones_ of dreams. "Can't you do something about this?"

He shook his head again. "I could expel them if I had command over them, but I'm afraid that I do not have that authority over them. They now answer to someone else and they would not respond to my orders." He turned his head to her, his blue eyes regarding her with intent. "You're going to have to expel them."

"How?"

"I'm going to send you into their dreams so you could slay the corrupt _oneiroi _that now infest their subconscious. If nothing is done, they will be trapped inside their nightmares for eternity and they might even die."

Another one screamed. It was Kam. "Send me in." She answered without hesitation.

"You're going to have to slay the nightmares quickly, lest they infest your dreams as well." Morpheus warned her and put his thumb to her forehead. She couldn't resist the allure of sleep and she found herself on the floor and closing her eyes soon after.

* * *

She awoke and found herself on a grassy plain. There was no breeze and the air was stagnant. A horrified scream behind her rang out. She turned around to find Kam, running away as she was being chased by a swarm of angry bees. She must be inside Kam's nightmare.

"Kam!" She called out and the daughter of Hephaestus turned to face her for a brief moment before realizing that there was a swarm of bees going after her. She ran away again, pleading for help.

"Hold on, I'm coming!" She ran to Kam and used her fans to blow away the swarm of bees. Kam stopped running and panted.

"Thanks." She said as she was panting.

"Bees are your nightmare?"

"Look at them! They fly around with those dangerous stingers on their fat, little bodies!"

"I'm guessing that a bee stung you when you were young."

"How'd you know?"

_You have to find the _Melas Oneiros _that has taken over this dream and kill it before it kills you. _A voice echoed from nowhere and everywhere.

"Who was that?" Kamaria asked, startled.

"Morpheus." Lumina answered. "We should find that nightmare spirit and kill it."

"Nightmare spirit?"

"A _Melas Oneiros_ entered your dream, so we must kill it. Now, where to start looking?"

"M-m-maybe right th-there?"

Lumina followed Kam's gaze. She was pointing at a beehive as large as a sky scraper. It was surrounded by a swirling swarm of bees and the beehive itself radiated darkness. The nightmare spirit must be hiding there.

"If there's one thing I learned from video games, it's that when there are a lot of enemies, it means you're on the right path." Lumina stated and started towards the massive beehive. "Come on!"

"W-what? W-w-wait!" Kam stuttered and ran to catch up with her.

* * *

Kam looked like she was ready to pass out.

Horror was etched on her face. She was sweating nervously and her hands were shaking. The sword in her grip was shaking as well and she was walking slowly and cautiously.

The massive swarm noticed their presence and, well, _swarmed _towards them, stingers ready to prick their flesh. Kam paled and looked like she was about to lose consciousness.

"Don't you faint on me!" Lumina said as she used her fans to blow away the bees. They were easily carried away by the wind the silver hand fans generated.

More bees flew towards them, their buzzing turning from a low buzz to a loud, incessant buzzing noise. Bees surrounded them and Kam shrieked as she waved her sword in the air in what might have been an attempt to defend herself or drive away the insects.

Lumina used her fans to blow away most of the bees, creating a hole in the swarm that surrounded them. "This way!" She called to Kam and she ran toward the temporary hole in the wall of the swarm. Lumina followed behind her.

The bees noticed that they ran, so they moved and tried to engulf them within a vortex of insects. There was a hole in the beehive that emanated inky black darkness. The area around the entrance was gray and distorted. The Melas Oneiros was sure to be in the beehive.

"Inside the hive! Maybe that's where the nightmare spirit is." Lumina suggested.

Kam gulped. "Y-you want us t-to go in th-th-th-there? N-no way!"

"It's either that or those bees."

"You know w-what? A t-t-trip inside a b-b-beeh-h-hive sounds l-lovely."

They ran towards the entrance. The air around them turned gray and the surroundings began to get warped as they neared the hole. They finally entered the hole and the entrance sealed itself behind them. Where there was once a hole in the wall, there was now a growth of orange, quartz-like crystal.

The beehive wasn't really a beehive from the inside. Its exterior might have looked like a hive, but the inside was a wide, spacious cavern made completely out of the same orange quartz. The surroundings were distorted and there were shards and fragments of the orange crystal floating around and drifting aimlessly around the space. On the crystalline walls were moving images of Kam. There was one where she was teaching Alex how to forge a sword, one where she was sparring with him and there was even one where they shared a platter of brownies. Lumina even recognized a few of them: there was one of her and Kam talking to each other in Camp Half-Blood, one showed them killing harpies and another one of them being Veronica's personal servants. She realized that these were Kam's memories.

"Where are we?" She inquired.

_You are inside the deeper parts of your friend's subconscious. _The voice of Morpheus answered. _The _Melas Oneiros _hides in here. You have to find it and kill it before you both are trapped in this nightmare forever._

"You heard him. Let's go find ourselves a nightmare spirit." Kam said with a bit of enthusiasm.

* * *

Finding the Melas Oneiros was easy. They just had to go to where the orange crystals turned black.

There was this one segment of the crystalline cavern that was completely black. Its walls showed images of fear, negativity and bad memories. There was even one in which Kam was being chased by a swarm of bees – probably the cause of her phobia. In the center of it all was a tall, humanoid figure with wide, black, leathery bat wings. When it touched a floating orange crystal, it turned black. It turned around. Its face was shifting constantly, like Morpheus's face. Its body was bone-thin and its skin was jet black and its black, pointed claws were really long.

"Come to expel me, I suppose?" The nightmare spirit inquired with a raspy voice. "And I guess that Morpheus is helping you, hmm?"

"Just get out of my dreams, you butt, or I'm going to have to make you!" Kam exclaimed defiantly as she pointed her sword at the monster.

It chuckled, the sound echoing against the crystalline walls, creating a creepy echo effect. "Naïve child. I'd like to see you say that again once I assume this form!" The spirit folded its wings and emanated darkness. The shadow surrounded and engulfed the bat-like creature like a blanket. The darkness morphed into a black sphere, and that sphere took a new shape. It morphed again and turned into the silhouette of a gigantic insect that soon gained color. It was a gigantic bee, one as large as a truck. Its iridescent wings fluttered in a mesmerizing fashion, its limbs and antennae constantly twitching and its big, red compact eyes regarding them with interest, their reflections showing up on each eye. It readied its stinger – a 3 meter long silver point that was laced with poison. It looked like it could impale them easily. Kam nearly fainted.

"I'll just kill you here and now. My master will be very pleased." The bee said in the same raspy voice and quickly thrust its stinger. Good thing Kam jumped out of the way or else there would have been a big stinger protruding through her stomach.

Lumina shot three arrows which hit the gigantic bee. It roared in pain and thrust its stinger. Lumina evaded and the stinger buried itself into the crystalline wall, leaving it disabled. "Kam, now's your chance!"

Kam got the message and slashed and hacked at the beast with her sword. The bee was now even angrier and it pulled out its stinger from the crystal and tried to stab her again. Kam was avoiding every strike, but for how long?

Lumina remembered something her fifth-grade science teacher once told them. _The reason a bee can only sting once is because once they sting, they'll try to fly away. Their stingers will be buried in your skin that when the bee tries to flee, the stinger is pulled from its body, including all of its internal organs and whatnot. Without their innards, they won't last long. _The whole class eewed in response. That gave her a crazy idea.

"Kam, try to make it stab the walls!"

"I don't know where you're going with this, but okay!"

"You really think you can defeat me?" The Melas Oneiros challenged as it thrust its stinger once more. It missed and impaled the wall.

"Kam, attack the part where the stinger meets its butt!"

Kam slashed at the part Lumina specified. Black blood dripped from the wounds that her sword made and the bee howled. It pulled away its stinger, and Lumina can already see her plan unfold. The stinger was slightly loose and was dripping with black blood. If they continue doing this, they might just have a chance at killing the beast.

The bee thrust its stinger again and impaled the wall again. "Rinse and repeat!" Lumina shouted to Kam and she continued hacking at the stinger.

"That is _it!_" The spirit exclaimed angrily. It pulled away, but its stinger didn't follow. It was left on the wall along with its stomach and other gross internal organs. The bee collapsed to the floor and a cloud of black smoke emanated from it. "Bested by two _children_… The master won't be pleased." It drew its final breath and disintegrated into dust.

_Well done, but there are still five more._ Morpheus applauded. _Tell me when you're ready and I'll move you to the next dream._

"Hey, Lumi." Kam called out. A happy, yet disturbed and nervous expression was on her face. She can't blame her. Seeing enlarged bee guts was a disturbing sight to behold for her as well. "Thanks."

Lumina nodded. "I'm ready." She said and a white light surrounded her.

Then everything went black.

* * *

She awoke to find herself in a vast field. The grass was yellow and wilting and the field itself was seemingly endless, nothing but darkness on the horizon. It resembled Terra's _Umbra Semita _a bit. She waved her hand before her eyes and it left a trail. Every movement she made left a trail of afterimages.

"No!" A voice shouted. It sounded like two voices talking at once. She looked around to find the source and she eventually found the speaker. It was Alex McField. He was on his knees, reaching out to grab at shadows. She was in Alex's nightmare.

"No, don't leave…" He tried to reach out to a woman that looked a lot like him – his mother maybe. The woman turned into shadow and slid away from him. She was now about five meters far from him. He ran to her and tried to grab her again but the shadow just moved.

"Alex?" Lumina called out. That gained his attention.

"Lumina… Are you…" He tried to reach out to her, but for some unknown reason, she found herself being dragged from him by some invisible force.

"Alex, what is this?"

"I- I don't know."

_Alex…_ A female voice called out. Alex turned to face the figure of his mother. He ran for her and tried to grab her, but she just moved away again. Alex tried again and once more, the apparition moved. Lumina noticed something about the apparition. It was staying away from him, but it was moving towards a certain direction, almost as if it was trying to lead him somewhere. _Alex…_

"Alex, follow that apparition!" Lumina commanded and Alex complied. He tried to reach for her, but as expected, it moved away again. Her hunch was right, it _was _moving in a certain direction. It probably leads to the Melas Oneiros.

"Chase it!" She called out as Alex was trying to follow the shadow. "It may lead us to the Melas Oneiros!"

Alex stopped for a bit with a confused look on his face. "Melas Oneiros?"

"A nightmare spirit. That's what's making you have this nightmare."

"So you're telling me, there's a spirit in my dreams that's giving me nightmares?"

"Yes. We have to kill it as soon as possible. Now, follow that mirage!" She took a step forward to get closer to Alex, but she was just pulled away by the invisible force that presides in his nightmare.

Alex ran toward the apparition. It continued staying away from him, but it was leading them closer to the Melas Oneiros. She can feel it. The atmosphere around them got grayer and began to look warped – just like when she entered the deeper parts of Kam's subconscious.

Alex followed the apparition and it still kept moving away from him. It kept its distance from him, which seemed to have discouraged him a bit. He kept going after the apparition, even though it made him go in zigzags and circles. The atmosphere got even grayer and more warped – a sign that they were getting closer.

Eventually, they reached a hill. The apparition stood on top and stopped keeping its distance. Alex ran toward the apparition and reached for it but when he touched it, it dissolved into shadows.

"No, no, no…" Alex muttered. Lumina realized what Alex's nightmare was. His dreaded having the people he cares about taken away from him.

The ground under them shook. Soon, a cave entrance was opened in the side of the hill, nothing but pitch-black darkness inside, but the atmosphere around the entrance was gray and distorted. They've found the entrance to Alex's subconscious, where they will kill the Melas Oneiros that haunts his dreams.

"Wha-?" Alex said, his mouth agape in awe and surprise.

"That's the entrance to your subconscious!" Lumina answered as she headed toward the cave. "Come on!"

Alex trotted down the hill and entered the cave as she went inside.

* * *

This time, the cavern was composed of gray, quartz-like crystal. The entrance from whence they came was sealed shut by a wall of gray quartz.

The cavern was similar to the cavern in Kam's subconscious, except that this time, it was gray. There were columns of gray quarts with shards and fragments of gray stones floating in midair. The walls showed her images of his memories as well. There was an image of him making a sword in the camp's forges, Kam standing behind him. There was another one of him walking in front of Zeus's fist, petting a hellhound and another one of him teaching Miguel on how to speak Italian – which seemed to be one of his ineptitudes. There was an image of him sitting in a dark corner, another one depicting him playing board games with who might have been his mother and one showing him sharing a platter of brownies with Kam, another memory she found in Kam's subconscious.

"Wait, these are _my _memories!" Alex exclaimed in awe as he touched one of the floating crystals.

"Yes, we're in the deeper parts of your subconscious." Lumina replied.

"So the nightmare spirit is here?"

"We just have to go look for it, which would be easy." She traced a fine black vein on the crystalline wall. "We just find the spot with black crystals."

"Sounds easy enough." He followed the black vein as he observed his memories on the walls that playing out in front of him like a movie theater.

* * *

They eventually reached that part of the cave where the black crystals collected. This was the place where his subconscious stores his bad memories and his fears. On the crystalline walls were images of him sulking in isolation, and some images showed him being ignored and even outcast by people who might have been his classmates.

As usual, the Melas Oneiros was in the middle of the chamber, turning the gray crystals black and converting them to fears.

"So," the spirit said in a raspy voice like that of its deceased brother, "have you come to drive me out?"

"You can always leave now, before we think of killing you." Lumina threatened and the spirit mocked fear.

"I don't think so. This one has a lot of fears, a lot of hatred. More sustenance for me. In case that wasn't clear, that was a no. I'm not leaving this place." The spirit grabbed another floating crystal which turned black and ate it, the crunching sound of its teeth grinding crystals echoing within the crystalline chamber.

"Then I guess we're just going to have to _drive you out._"

The Melas Oneiros smirked. "Very well, since you insist."

It underwent the same transformation process as its sibling. It folded its wings and turned into a sphere of darkness. It took a new form – a puppeteer. It wore colorful robes, jester's trousers and pointed shoes. It had six arms, each holding a puppet that resembled one person on board besides Alex. There was a puppet that looked like her, one that looked like Astrid, one that looked like Veronica, one that looked like Kam, one that looked like Nathan and another that looked like Miguel. The puppets were hanging from strings on each hand. Six apparitions – one for each member of the crew – showed up in response to the puppets' activation.

"Dance, dance!" The apparitions attacked Alex, who was busy blocking blows with his sword. Lumina tried to approach to help, but was held back by the same invisible force. Alex tried to swing his sword, but the apparitions just moved away from him then they counterattacked.

The apparitions in this scene were very much alike with the apparition they met in the field in Alex's subconscious. They moved away from him whenever he tried to attack. Lumina got an idea.

"Alex, walk towards the apparitions! Use their curse to your advantage."

Alex took a step forward, and the silhouette of Kam moved away from him. He kept walking towards the apparition. It was staying away from him with every step. He neared the puppeteer, brandishing his sword, ready to cut off its head.

The nightmare spirit pulled something from beneath its robes – two extra arms with a falchion on each hand. Now it has eight arms, and two of them had swords. It brought its swords down on Alex, who stopped them with his own sword. The puppeteer flicked his wrists and the apparitions approached Alex with their weapons ready.

Alex took a step backward without really disengaging from his fight and the apparitions moved away. He pushed his sword up, making the puppeteer flinch and stagger, which left it and its puppets highly vulnerable. Alex swung his sword and cut off the arm which held the Kamaria puppet. The arm fell to the ground in a heap of black dust and the apparition of Kam disappeared. Alex slashed off three more – the two falchion arms and the Lumina puppet. The puppeteer was now down to four puppets.

The apparitions formed a wall that guarded the puppeteer. Alex tried to hack and slash, but his sword just went through the shadows. Lumina decided to help, so she nocked three arrows into her bow and fired. The blades on the arrowheads cut the strings of the Miguel, Astrid and Nathan puppets, leaving the Veronica puppet and the apparition.

Since this was only one shadow, Alex easily sidestepped and went behind the Veronica apparition, giving him a clear view of the Melas Oneiros. With one wide slash, Alex cut off its last arm, deleting the Veronica apparition. He thrust his sword into the spirit's chest and it burst to black dust.

_Four now remain. _Morpheus reminded her. _Your job here is done._

"Who was that?" Alex asked and looked around.

"That was Morpheus." Lumina responded. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some nightmare spirits to kill."

She was surrounded by more bright light and after that was nothing but pure black.

* * *

_ExiXIII: _**Fun Fact – "Melas Oneiros" literally translates to "Black Dream."**


	11. XI - Dreamwalker II

_ExiXIII: _**Another long chapter! *confetti***

* * *

Lumina woke up and found herself inside a large stone cave. It was dark, cold and damp and the rocks were covered with thick spider webs. The only light inside the cavern came from clusters of glowing mushrooms that emanated a faint blue radiance, so the cavern was dimly lit. There was also the sound of running water – probably a brook flowing through the cave.

She took a step forward and something cracked underneath her feet. She let loose a short, panicked scream and looked down to the ground. Underneath her was the skeleton of a human being that was covered with spider webs. Some its bones were missing and yellowed by age and some have been pulverized by her sole.

"Who's there?" A panicky voice inquired. "Lumina?"

She turned around to find Miguel standing there with a magical globe that emitted a faint, white light hovering over his open palm. His clothes were tattered and dirty, he was scraped all over and he looked weary and scared.

"What happened to you? You look like someone who was dragged across concrete."

"The answer to that is simple…" He began but was interrupted by a scuttling noise followed by hissing. His expression changed to panic and he became nervous and jittery. "Oh gods, they're here."

She looked around and she caught a flicker of movement from the corner of her eye. The silhouette stepped near a glowing mushroom and she saw a brief glimpse of what _it _was. It had eight furry legs with a spike on each end. Its body was covered in brown hairs and it had a large abdomen. On its head were two large fangs that were dripping with dark green venom that hissed and steamed upon touching the ground and it had six big, black, beady eyes. It was a gigantic spider – one that was almost as big as a boulder.

Miguel's face went pale and he was shaking all over. The spider continued to crawl towards him, its legs clicking on the stone floor. "_Φωτιά!_" Miguel cast a spell and aimed his palm at the spider. A ball of fire erupted from his palm and hit the spider. It reared back, but the spell seemed to have little to no effect on it. The spider jumped to attack the son of Hecate.

Lumina nocked an arrow into her bow and shot the spider in midair, changing its trajectory, making it miss its target completely. The arrow stuck out of its side and black blood was dripping from the wound, but it wasn't dead. It was just angrier than before.

The spider lunged and pinned her to the ground. Its fangs were only inches from her face and the acidic venom dripped from its mouth and hit the ground, nearly missing her face. As it was getting ready to take a bite out of her face, an arrow stuck out of its thorax. Then two, then three. The spider broke out into bright flames and scuttled away, squealing as it went. Its charred corpse collapsed on the ground after a moment of burning.

"Good thing that was just a small one…" Miguel muttered with a shaky voice. "Who knows what would have happened if it were a big one."

"Small one?" Lumina replied incredulously. "You mean there are bigger ones?"

"Much, much bigger."

More scuttling, clicking and hissing sounds emanated from the dark corridor at one end of the cavern. "Looks like we've attracted more of them." Miguel said, his face pale and his hands shaky. "We have to get out of here."

* * *

He led her to another cave segment to hide from the spiders. There was a small stream of water flowing across the cave segment that was colder than the previous one.

They were covered in cobwebs after running through cobwebs to get here. Lumina went near the stream and used the ice-cold water to wash away the cobwebs that were stuck to her arms and face. She sat cross-legged near the stream and sighed, her breath turning into a puff of mist in front of her. "We have to find that Melas Oneiros soon."

"Melas Oneiros?" Miguel echoed as he used magic to ignite a pile of dry wood and cobwebs to make a fire. He warmed himself near the fire and Lumina did the same. "You mean nightmare spirits?" Lumina nodded. "No wonder."

"Do you know where it is?"

"I'm afraid not."

"Shh." Lumina warned. She heard scuttling sounds which means that there was another giant spider nearby. She took a rock and put it on the burning pile of wood and cobwebs, extinguishing the flame. There was a spider on the ceiling above them, but it was oblivious to their presence. It crawled across a big spider web, approaching something that was wrapped in a cocoon of spider silk. It broke open the cocoon with its legs and retrieved a big pig then it sunk its fangs into the squealing animal. Gradually, the pig lost its pink sheen and turned gray the spider injected its venom into it, turning its insides to mush. It then proceeded to suck out the liquefied innards and blood. When it was done feeding, the pig that was now but a gray husk that was drained of its body fluids andits organs dropped to the ground before them. The spider scuttled away contentedly, leaving them alone in the dark cave.

"Disgusting…" Miguel whispered in horror.

"And I thought giant bee guts were disturbing."

"Giant bee guts?"

"Long story."

A spider screeched and they looked around nervously. Another one crawled across the cave ceiling, carrying a horse in its maw. Using its abdomen, it covered the horse with a cocoon of silk and then stuck it to the gigantic web. Miguel squirmed in discomfort and went _blecch_ in disgust. The spider noticed their presence and shrieked, acidic venom dripping to the ground.

"Oh gods." She muttered as the spider descended from the web and jumped toward them. They jumped to the sides, making the spider miss. As the spider was recovering from its missed leap, Miguel and Lumina were already nocking arrows into their bows. By the time the spider was ready to attack again, they fired upon the arthropod. His enchanted arrows made the spider combust spontaneously – which was a bad idea. The spider shrieked as it burned, its charred flesh smelling like burning tires and carrion. The spiders from the other side of the cave shrieked in response to the burning spider's pleads for help.

"That's not good." Miguel mumbled nervously. "Not good, not good, not good…"

More spiders entered the cave segment after the burning spider was reduced to ashes and dust. They pointed their abdomens at them and ejected streams of spider silk. She had to push Miguel out of the way because if she hadn't, he would have been ensnared by the spiders. He snapped out of his shock and started casting spells.

"_Επικαλεστεί: Μεγάλη πυρκαγιά!_" A ring of fire surrounded them, engulfing most of the spiders with searing flame. The other spiders fired more jets of silk, extinguishing the flames and even hit him in the arm, much to his disgust.

Lumina saw that the entrance to this cave segment was open and unprotected, so she immediately thought of a crazy, dangerous and potentially fatal idea. She grabbed him by the wrist. "Come on!" She ran and led him toward the exit while evading the spider silk and the jumping spiders.

They went through the exit and back to the room where she woke up in. There were a lot more spiders flooding in from the dark corridor at the far end of this chamber and the spiders from the other chamber were flooding into this chamber as well. They were surrounded and outnumbered, and they were going to die inside a subconscious filled with gigantic, acid spitting spiders.

"Any more bright ideas?" Miguel questioned with a shaky and horrified voice. He looked like he was ready to pass out. "_Επικαλεστεί: Μεγάλη πυρκαγιά!_" Another ring of searing flame surrounded them and set the spiders around them alight. Even some of the rocks caught fire.

The burning rock shook and split open and a mass of small, black objects emerged. "Those aren't rocks." Lumina muttered in shock and realization. "Those are egg sacs." The hundreds of baby spiders that scurried from the split egg sac burned as soon as they left the egg.

"Egg sacs?" Miguel echoed incredulously.

Lumina got another crazy idea. "Miguel, burn the egg sacs."

"What?!"

"Trust me. I have an idea."

He reluctantly aimed at the other egg sacs and shot them each with a fireball. They split open one by one, sending hundreds and hundreds of baby spiders scurrying all over the place. His face paled and he looked like he was visibly shaking. He kept firing at the egg sacs, until only one remained.

"There. That one." Lumina pointed at the last and largest egg sac and Miguel lobbed a big fireball at it. The egg sac caught flame and split open, releasing thousands of baby spiders. The silken cocoon that surrounded the egg sac burned down, revealing a hole on the floor. The surroundings of the hole were gray and warped. The hole was the entrance to the deeper levels of his subconscious. She grabbed him by the wrist and ran toward the hole. Tens of thousands of baby spiders swarmed around the hole and some even scurried up their clothes, making squirm in disgust. They finally reached the hole and jumped into the darkness, leaving behind the massive swarm of spiders.

* * *

They were inside a cavern composed of purple quartz. Miguel frantically brushed off the spiders on his person and even went crazy with fire. After exterminating the spiders, he looked around the cavern in awe. There were magical, glowing runes floating around the cavern and some crystals glowed and emanated magical energy.

On the walls were moving images of his memories. There was one of him and Astrid sitting beside each other on Fireworks Beach, a thermos between them. There was another of her interrogating him about the chosen seven. There were other, more recent memories as well that Lumina recognized. There was one that showed him reading the cards, another of him making the strategy they used for Capture the Flag and there was another that she didn't recognize – him running through a forest with a red-headed girl, running away from a pack of hellhounds. He was still young in that certain memory, so that must have happened many, many years ago.

"Welcome to your memories." Lumina said, which snapped him out of his trance.

"This is where the Melas Oneiros is?" Miguel asked and Lumina nodded.

"We just have to find the black crystals."

"That's not much of a challenge." He pointed at a fine trail of blackened crystal that led to a chamber in the far end of the crystalline cave.

"That's where it is. Come on."

* * *

They found the Melas Oneiros sitting cross legged in the middle of the blackened chamber. It was drumming its fingers on the crystalline floor, making loud, clicking noises that echoed across the cave.

On the wall of black quartz was an image of a young Miguel being surrounded by hundreds of baby spiders from an egg sac that recently cracked open. That experience must have been traumatizing enough for him to develop Arachnophobia.

"I've been waiting, where have you been?" The Melas Oneiros said with a raspy voice.

"So you're the abomination infesting my dreams?" Miguel replied, half-snarling.

"Abomination is such a harsh term. I prefer artist."

"The only thing I could say now is that I don't like your art."

"Such a shame. No matter. I shall dispose of you myself."

The Melas Oneiros turned into the shadowy glob that she's already seen twice before. It was getting ready to change shape. The black sphere grew eight legs that erupted with bristled then the glob stretched and molded itself into an abdomen and a thorax. It sprouted a head with six big, black, beady eyes and large fangs dripping green, acidic venom. It turned into another of those giant spiders, only this time; it was larger than anything Lumina has ever seen before.

Miguel paled and he looked like he was about to faint. "Are you serious?"

The spider shrieked, sending droplets of acidic venom flying all over the place. Miguel nocked arrows into his bow and fired. The places where the arrows stuck out of the spider were set alight by the magic that enchanted the arrows, but it just shook its abdomen, that the winds it generated snuffed out the fire.

"You think fire can defeat me?" The spider launched a length of spider silk upward and hung from the ceiling. It aimed its head at Miguel and spit out a jet of acid. He rolled to the side, making the stream of venom miss him completely.

Lumina decided to help, so she nocked an arrow into her bow and fired, nailing the spider square in the eye. It shrieked angrily and turned to face her. It spit out another stream of venom, which Miguel defended her against. "_Επικαλεστεί: μαγικό φράγμα!_" An iridescent magic circle inscribed with runes appeared in the air before her, blocking out the jet of acid.

"You'll give in soon enough." The spider taunted.

Lumina observed the spider. It was still hanging from the ceiling, suspended only by its silken length of web. She drew her hand fans and stared at it. She got an idea.

"Miguel, cover me!" She ran to the spider and using the large cobweb that it constructed, she climbed to the ceiling of the crystalline cavern and started hacking and slashing at the silken thread to make the spider fall to the ground.

"Hey, six eyes!" Miguel taunted as he fired an arrow that hit the arachnid's abdomen. The spider's attention moved to him and tried to shower him with its acidic venom.

Lumina slashed at the silk and cut it, sending the massive bug falling toward the ground. It can't stand, but its mouth bubbled with green acid, getting ready to spit out another stream.

"_Επικαλεστεί: Συγκρατήστε._" A magical rope that was set with runes wrapped itself around the spider's fangs, effectively closing its mouth and preventing it from spitting out more acid. He nocked five arrows into his bow at once and aimed at the beast. "Say your prayers." He fired and the arrows accurately struck its five remaining eyes. It combusted and black blood gushed from its eye sockets as it squirmed and writhed with pain. Moments after, the giant spider was reduced to nothing but ashes and dust.

_You must move to the next dream. Quickly! _The voice of Morpheus rang out.

"What was that?" Miguel asked as he frantically looked around, looking for the speaker.

"That was Morpheus." Lumina answered. "Now, I have to go. There are other dreams to cleanse."

She was surrounded by bright, white light that intensified until everything was white. Then the light disappeared and everything was pitch-black.

* * *

Lumina awoke and found herself in the middle of a field of ice.

The land was covered in snow and dotted with pine trees whose needles were whitened with the fine white powder and their trunks were covered with intricate patterns of frost. Every now and then, there would be a block of solid ice on the landscape with some sort of shape trapped inside. Lumina approached one such ice block and found the frozen body of a monster. A gorgon, a hellhound, even a manticore – she found their frozen corpses littering the white wasteland.

A cold, arctic wind blew across the landscape. She realized that she was in Astrid's dream. She had to find Astrid as she was the one who can lead her to the Melas Oneiros.

"Astrid?" She called out in hopes that she will answer. "You there?"

"Lumina?" Astrid's voice answered. Lumina turned and found her standing about ten feet away from her. There were snowflakes swirling weakly around her and the snow beneath her feet turned to solid ice.

"Thank gods I found you." Lumina replied then took a step closer, almost slipping on a frozen puddle. Astrid slowly backed away a bit with an expression of fear and maybe even a bit of concern on her face.

"No, no, you stay there." She replied quietly. "You should probably go."

"What? Why? I just got here."

"It's for the best."

Lumina took another step closer and Astrid backed away again. She was obviously trying to keep her distance, but why? Was she _that_ scary or was it because of something else? She ran towards Astrid and she ran away as well, leading her to give pursuit to the daughter of the northern wind.

"Stay away if you know what's good for you!" Astrid yelled to her as she ran away. Lumina was still going after her. She noticed something. Astrid wasn't talking in her usual monotonous voice.

"Why? Do I really look _that _bad?" She was gaining on Astrid. Soon, she would be within tackling range.

Astrid used her mastery of the ice and snow and turned the ground beneath her feet into a trail of solid ice which she used to skate away. She was already getting farther and farther from Lumina, who was still running after her on foot. She exerted more effort into running and she was now gaining on Astrid.

"Astrid, what-"

"Stay away!" A big wall of ice sprang up from the snow between them. It rose to about ten feet and was as thick as two brick walls. Behind the wall, Astrid stopped and stood there, regarding her with her icy blue eyes.

"Astrid, what's with you?" Lumina attempted to scale the frozen barrier, but upon touching it, her hands became red and stiff from the cold. She retracted her hand immediately. The rumors about her ice being cold enough to feel like it was burning weren't false.

Astrid continued to back away slowly. Lumina drew two silver daggers and buried them into the wall of ice to be used as improvised ice axes. She proceeded to climb the wall of ice, making sure that none of her exposed flesh touches the barrier. Her foot slipped, and she almost fell, but she regained her footing on the slippery ice and continued scaling it.

"Astrid, what's the matter with you?"

"No, leave me be. You'll be safer that way."

"What?"

She finally reached the top of the ice wall. She looked down. The ground was ten feet below her and covered with fresh snow. She can jump and land safely; the snow will cushion her fall like a pillow. She jumped and found that her theory was right. "Yup, just like a pillow."

"You're quite stubborn."

"What's wrong with you?"

"I said leave. Now."

The snowflakes around Astrid escalated to a powerful storm. She channeled this storm and it swirled in a vortex in front of her. The swirling snow coagulated and condensed. A figure formed within the vortex and it grew as the storm shrunk. Soon, it was complete. It was a monster constructed completely out of ice and snow. It stood to about eight feet. On its body were pointy icicles protruding out of its back like spines. Its fingers were made of solid ice and its eyes were faceted spheres of ice. It roared and Lumina got a good view of its mouth. Its teeth were composed of pointy icicles like numerous icy daggers and its breath was as cold as the arctic wind.

"Are you serious?"

The snow golem brought down its fist. Even though was made of snow, Lumina knew that it can hurt and _will _hurt her should she get hit. She sidestepped and evaded the icy hand and she stabbed the fist with her silver daggers. _What a stupid idea, that thing's made of snow._

The beast was now angry. It roared again, its icy spines extending, making it look more intimidating. It pulled two icicles from its back and threw them like javelins. She acrobatically avoided the frozen spines, the five-meter-long icicles protruding from the snow. Lumina tried to envision what she would have looked like if she hadn't jumped out of the way: Her body on the snow, an icicle sticking out of her chest and her blood staining the snow red. She brushed away the thought.

Lumina saw the monster's weakness – its leg. Its leg was disproportionately small. One slice would chop it off and bring the snow golem down.

"Yo, Marshmallow!" She called the monsters attention and opened her silver hand fans – partly to taunt it and partly to show off. "Right here."

The monster brought its fist down again and slammed the ground. A circle of sharp icicles burst from the spot where the snowy hand met the ground. If she had been standing near it, she would have been turned into Hunter Shish Kabob. While its fist was on the ground, Lumina ran to its leg and sliced it off with her silver hand fan. As expected, the monster's leg turned to shapeless snow and it collapsed, unable to stand or fight. It was completely helpless. She approached the fallen snowman and raised her hand fans, ready to end the beast. She swiped her weapon and cut off its head. The head and the decapitated body was reduced to a pile snow and shards of ice.

"Astrid, what was that about?" She asked panting. Her breath turned to white puffs of gas.

"I told you to stay away. You're not safe here."

"What do you mean 'not safe'? I'm a huntress, I know whether something's safe or not."

The trees rustled with an unfelt breeze. The sound almost resembled quiet whispering. Astrid was covering her ears, her eyes tearing up as if she was on the verge of crying.

"No, get out of my head!" The rustling intensified, but there was still no breeze. Now, the rustling really sounded like whispering. Lumina listened closely and she could pick up a few words from the whispering trees: _Murderer. Traitor. Alone._

"No. Stop!" Astrid pleaded, a single tear escaping her eye. The rustling got louder and a cold wind blew around her, sending snowflakes and ice shards spiraling into the air. "GO AWAY!"

A blizzard appeared around her, the high-speed winds lifting up the snow and making their clothes whip in the wind. Lumina feared that she would die here in the nightmare of one of her friends, cold and frozen in her subconscious. She squinted and peered through the snowstorm and saw the winds blow down a big mound of snow, revealing a cave entrance in the side of a snow-covered hill behind her. The cave's surroundings were gray and distorted. She found the entrance to Astrid's memory; the place where the nightmare spirit lurks.

"Astrid!" Lumina ran toward her and tackled her, sending them into the cave entrance.

* * *

The cave entrance sealed itself with a vein of light blue quartz.

The cavern was composed entirely of the same light blue crystal that almost resembled ice. It was cold, about 15 degrees Celsius, and there were icicles hanging from the ceiling and snow covering some spots on the floor.

Lumina got off Astrid and stood. She helped her to her feet and she brushed off the snow on her hoodie. "Where are we?" She inquired as she looked around. Her confused expression changed to surprise. "These are…"

"Your memories? Yep."

Lumina looked around, her attention focusing on the moving images on the walls. There was one of Astrid and Miguel sitting beside each other on Fireworks Beach, a thermos between them. There was another of him talking to and comforting her when she was crying. There were memories of her time with her mother back in Canada, one that showed her having an argument with Khione and another one that depicted her frozen in a block of ice from the waist-down with Zethes and Calais trying to unfreeze her. As she was watching, a fine, black line appeared across the crystal.

"What?"

"The Melas Oneiros… It's close."

"Melas Oneiros?"

"Nightmare Spirit."

A chuckle echoed across the cavern, emanating from a chamber in the far end of the cave. The chamber's entrance was composed of black crystal – an indicator of the spirit's presence. She headed for the cave segment to face and expel the nightmare.

* * *

The black crystals showed her one of Astrid's memories. It showed her standing in the middle of a violent blizzard, surrounded by frozen Laistrygonians and one other figure she couldn't identify. The image radiated such a powerful aura of hatred, that it invoked the same emotion in Lumina, even though she had no reason to be angry.

The Melas Oneiros stood in the middle of the chamber, whispering into a black crystal. Lumina realized that the whispering in the woods was actually this monster whispering to Astrid. Astrid herself looked like she was caught between grief, regret, hatred and anger.

"Ah, you're here…" The nightmare spirit smile wryly. "The murderer."

"SHUT UP!" Astrid summoned an ice spear and charged at the Melas Oneiros. It evaded the attack and hovered in midair and morphed into a black sphere. It was chuckling as it was changing shape. It took on a new form, and the form it took surprised Astrid and Lumina.

The Melas Oneiros assumed the form of Astrid. The only difference between them is that the doppelgänger was entirely black. It was a shadow given three-dimensional shape. A cold aura emanated from the spirit, just like Astrid. It even created its own spear of black ice.

Astrid and the nightmare spirit crossed spears, making bits of blue and black ice fly across the cave segment. Their fight generated so much cold, ice started to form on the crystalline walls.

"You'll only hurt those you hold dear, so why do you continue to fight?" The Melas Oneiros taunted, which made Astrid even angrier. She thrust her spear more rapidly and with more fervor, but the nightmare spirit just evaded her attacks.

"I fight because I have something to fight for." She answered, though Lumina didn't know what she meant by that. She landed a hit on the shadow Astrid, and its shoulder froze.

"How noble." A ring of black, pointed ice spikes burst from the ground around the Melas Oneiros, almost impaling Astrid. "You'll just end up killing your friends anyway."

Snowflakes appeared in the air and started falling toward the ground. Astrid was attacking even faster and trying to hit the nightmare spirit, but it just kept dodging her spear. The monster counterattacked and Astrid was now on the defensive. They weren't hitting each other because they were evenly matched.

"You're pathetic." The Melas Oneiros insulted her as it evaded another attack from Astrid. The snowstorm around her grew stronger and the winds became faster. "You're a traitor. You're a murderer." The storm became so strong that it was practically a blizzard. The winds were so fast that Lumina's ponytail was being whipped around by the wind. She couldn't see through the raging snowstorm and a thin layer of frost was starting to form on her skin. She could faintly see Astrid in the middle of the snowstorm, thrusting her spear angrily as the Melas Oneiros kept dodging.

"You're weak." The nightmare spirit taunted. "You're a monster."

Astrid yelled defiantly and the snowstorm around her grew stronger. She absorbed the snowstorm and unleashed the full force of the blizzard a single condensed beam of ice, snow and sleet which she aimed at the Melas Oneiros. It was trapped in a block of solid ice and only its head was left free and unfrozen.

"Get out of my head." She said in an intimidating undertone and thrust her spear, impaling the nightmare spirit's neck. Frost radiated outward from the spot where the spear was buried into its neck and moments after, the nightmare spirit was completely frozen. Cracks spider webbed across the frozen monster and it shattered to millions of tiny bits of black ice.

"Astrid," Lumina prompted after a moment of silence, "you okay?"

She looked over her shoulder to look at her. There was a thin layer of frost trailing from her eyes, down her cheeks and down to her chin. "I'm fine." She replied in her usual monotone, but with a hint of grief, regret and hatred.

_You must go now. The others need you. _The voice of Morpheus reminded Lumina. A white light surrounded her and soon, everything was completely white. Then there was nothing but blackness.

* * *

_ExiXIII: _**Let's play a game of 'Spot the Disney Reference'**

* * *

_**TRANSLATIONS**_

**GREEK: **_Φωτιά__ – _Fire; _Επικαλεστεί__: __Μεγάλη__πυρκαγιά__ – _Invoke: Great Fire; _Επικαλεστεί: Συγκρατήστε – _Invoke: Restrain


	12. XII - Dreamwalker III

_ExiXIII - number 1 fan: _**I've got it all planned out. There will be a filler chapter (not sure about the fluff, though) about the new seven soon, but not too soon. As I have said, I have the plot planned out.**

* * *

_ExiXIII: _**Heyheyhey, sorry people if it took me long to update. It's just that graduation is getting closer and closer every day and the teachers have been barraging us with hard-ass projects and assignments with demonic deadlines. *sigh* Anyways, this one's going to be a long chapter, one of the longest I've EVER written.**

* * *

Lumina opened her eyes and found herself lying on the ground.

She stood up and brushed off the dirt on her clothes then looked around. She was in a forest, the dry air tinged with the smells of loam and musk. The grass was gray and littered with dead and decaying leaves, a mushroom popping out of the compost occasionally, contributing to the cloying odor of the woods. The landscape was dotted with ominous, leafless trees that stood tall and dark. There were also some boulders scattered across the land, moss and ivy wrapping around the big rocks. A fog lay on the land, limiting her vision and obscuring anything in the distance. That would have been a problem, but she was a Hunter of Artemis; she was used to fighting in these conditions.

From the distance came the sounds of barking, growling and snarling. Monsters, she thought. No mortal creature could have produced such a noise. The noises got louder and louder as the abominations neared her. She nocked an arrow into her bow and steeled herself for a fight, but what appeared surprised and slightly disappointed her.

Nathan vaulted over the boulder in front of her, beads of sweat dripping from his face as he panted and ran from whatever was chasing him.

"Nathan, what-" Lumina began.

"Can't talk now, busy! Bye!" Nathan replied without stopping or without even turning to look in her direction. He jumped over a moldy fallen log and disappeared into the mist that hid whatever was in the distance.

The growling and barking intensified as the bushes behind the boulder rustled. She readied her bow and waited for the monsters to appear. Three unusually big hellhounds leapt from behind the rock, their maws dripping with drool and foaming with rabies. _Oh great_, she complained mentally. She faced three venomous creatures in her trips to her crewmates' dreams: a Giant Bee with a poison-laced stinger, a brood of Giant Spiders that spit acidic venom, and now, a pack of big, rabid hellhounds. She was beginning to think whether this was a test that her mother was putting her through as a way of answering her request for help or if she was just unlucky.

She let the arrow fly. The projectile hit one of the hellhounds in the back, but what happened next surprised her. Instead of disintegrating to monster dust, the hellhound just got angrier. It threw its head back and let loose a loud, high-pitched howl. Its crazed eyes glared at her with such anger that it must be thinking of how her flesh would feel like between its sharp, pointy teeth.

"Uh oh." She gulped, turned around and ran. "Nathan, wait!"

The hellhounds gave pursuit, dried leaves and dead twigs snapping under their paws. She was running as fast as she could so she could keep the distance between her and the angry beasts.

"Great. Just great." She muttered to herself as she ran. "First, there's acid-spitting spiders, then there's invincible rabid hellhounds!"

The hellhounds gained on her, the dim moonlight making their razor sharp fangs glinting bright in contrast to the dark background, making them look more intimidating. Just as she was about to give up from exhaustion, a voice above her called her out.

"Lumina, up here!" Nathan called out. He was sitting on a branch of a tree, gesturing to her to run faster.

She scaled the gnarled trunk of the tree quickly to get to the top before the hounds got to her. Nathan extended his arm and helped Lumina up to another branch where she sat high above the ground and safe from the monsters. She looked down to see the hellhounds stop at the base of the tree.

"I have to find that Melas Oneiros quickly and kill it." She said and gulped a lungful of air. Running away from the savage beasts really exhausted her.

"Melas Oneiros? Was it black with wings and an ugly face?" Nathan asked.

"Yes." She verified. "Have you seen it?"

He pointed at a cave at the side of a hill a few hundred meters away. The cave's surroundings were gray and distorted – an indicator that the monster she was hunting was lurking there. "The only way there is through the forest." He looked down at the hellhounds which barked even louder upon seeing his face. He paled a bit and his expression turned nervous for a short while before he looked away.

"How do you kill those things?"

"Don't know. I tried to, didn't work so I ran away and now, I'm here." Nathan replied and plucked a twig from the branch he was sitting on. He looked down and his expression turned nervous for a short while.

She racked her brains, trying to think of a way to dispose of the monsters. As she was thinking, a spider crawled up the branch she was on and crawled up her leg. Shrieking, she brushed it off frantically because it might bite her or spit acid just like the ones in Miguel's nightmare. _Spiders_, she silently mused. Her thoughts returned to that moment when she was facing the giant, acid-spitting spider. It died by flames. That might be how she would kill these ones but the only problem now was how was she going to start a fire?

"So, what now?" Nathan inquired, snapping her out of her thoughtful state.

"I have a theory. We could set those things on fire, make them burn to ashes." She answered.

"How are we going to start one?"

She looked around for anything she could use to make a fire. Nathan easily snapped the twig in his hands and it created a loud, snapping noise. The twig was dry and there were a few dead, withered leaves on the branches of the tree. She gathered took some dry twigs and dead leaves from the branch and put them into a little pile in front of her. She drew three of her silver arrows and put them under the pile of dead plant matter and made sure to cover them good. She took another dead twig and used it to generate a fire which she used to light the pile. The leaves and twigs burned and smoke emanated from the fire and rose to the sky. She took the silver arrows from underneath the burning pile before the flames were extinguished and nocked all three into her bow and aimed, the red-orange flames still dancing on the shafts and on the bits of leaves on the arrowheads.

She let the arrows fly and they hit each of the hellhounds square in each of their heads. They caught fire almost immediately and howled and writhed as the bright red flames consumed them. Soon, they were nothing but charred corpses and ashes. Nathan regarded her with amazement.

"Let's get to that cave." She said and climbed down the gnarled tree, Nathan following soon after.

* * *

The ground path was supposed to be infested with monsters; Lumina can feel their presence – Hunter Sense, another perk of being a Hunter of Artemis. The only strange thing was, none of them came to attack. Some did burst from the bushes to engage them in combat, but they just disposed of them with some magically-enchanted flaming arrows that they scavenged from a dead man's remains. She can't even believe her luck when they found those magical fire arrows since it makes surviving a lot easier.

Even though they were armed, they still took precautions to hide from the monster's sights since there were too many and they could easily get outnumbered and overpowered.

After a long time of hiding and going around monsters and parkouring over obstacles, they reached the base of the hill. The cave's mouth was wide and gaping and dark, the area around it gray, blurry, warped and cold.

"That's where the Melas Oneiros is hiding?" Nathan asked and Lumina nodded.

Another thing about the cave – it was a hellhound den. Inside were about thirty hellhounds off all shapes and sizes. She didn't even have to look inside to know – their wet dog odor and the rancid smell of carrion was so strong that she was able to pick it up from fifty yards away.

"The place's chock full of monsters…" Lumina murmured. "It's gonna be hard to get in."

"Looks like we have no other option, though…"

"There's only one way in and it's full of hellhounds…"

Nathan got up and dashed into the cave. What a fool, she thought to herself and ran after him in case he needs any help. And after all, she was the one with the fire arrows.

The inside of the cave was dark, damp and filled with the putrid, gut-wrenching odor of rotting flesh and unwashed dog. The hellhounds faced them, their eyes crazed and their mouths foaming with Rabies. The growled and snarled as they approached them slowly in a manner that said, Fresh Meat!

Lumina nocked an arrow into her bow and fired, hitting one of the hellhounds and setting it ablaze, its burning body going around the cave and illuminating the walls with dancing orange light. The flames illuminated the cavern and revealed skeletal remains on the ground, cobwebs and bloodstains on the walls and massive amounts of hellhound feces in brown, stinking, fly-riddled piles scattered across the cave floor. The stinking odor of manure heavily contributed to the sickening stench of the cave and Lumina's enhanced sense of smell magnified that odor, making her want to throw up.

The other hellhounds lunged. She fired arrows as quickly as she could just to prevent any of them from landing an attack. A lot of the hellhounds burst into bright red flames as Nathan was running around – whether he was running away or luring their attention, Lumina wasn't sure.

She shot down the hellhounds that were running after Nathan and most of them burned to ashes. One of the hellhounds lunged and pinned Nathan to the ground, its slobber dripping to his face and covering his head with a glossy and smelly layer of saliva. Its mouth foamed with Rabies and it reared its head back to get ready to take a bite out of his face. Nathan paled and stabbed the monster repeatedly with his dagger, but to no avail. Lumina quickly nocked and fired an arrow and hit the hellhound in the eye. It staggered back and combusted, the walls dancing with orange light as the hound burned. Soon after, it was nothing but ashes and embers and smoke. The den was completely emptied of its hellish inhabitants and the air now reeked heavily of smoke and charred dog.

"What do we do now?" Nathan asked, his voice still quivering.

"That's what we're going to do." Lumina pointed at a small hole in the far end of the cave that was so small that they could traverse it only if they crawled on their bellies. The hole emanated the gray energy that was a sign that said Melas Oneiros was here.

Nathan started working his way into the small crevice and Lumina followed behind to enter the deeper areas of his subconscious.

* * *

The small hole from which they entered from sealed itself behind them.

The cave of the memories of Nathan Byrn was composed of a brown quartz-like crystal that stuck out in columns and stalactites. There were crystal fragments floating around the cave space and other objects as well such as bits of gold, coins, trinkets, jewels, wallets, coin purses, even a handbag and pens and lighters.

On the walls of the crystalline cave were his memories. There was an image of him stealing wallets in elementary, another showing him breaking locks and stealing from lockers in middle school, another showing him running away, or rather, parkouring away from a group of Dracaenae and another of him executing a prank with the Hermes Cabin.

Nathan looked around the cave with amazement on his face. "These are my memories…"

"Yep. We're in the deeper levels of your subconscious."

"The Melas Oneiros is here?" Lumina nodded in reply.

She pointed at a trail of blackened crystal crawling across the cavern's ceiling. It led to a chamber that was separated from the cave by an arch of black quartz – the place where the nightmare spirit hid. She started toward the black chamber, Nathan following behind.

* * *

The chamber was composed completely of black quartz. An image of Nathan cornered by hellhounds, his chest cut and bloody from three claw marks was on the wall of black quartz.

The Melas Oneiros was sitting cross-legged on one corner, repetitively counting stacks of coins. It noticed their presence and looked up from its task and regarded them with a shrew smirk.

"Where have you been? I've been waiting so long that I started to count these knick-knacks I found floating around in your subconscious."

"Hey, stop messing with those! Those are mine."

"Are they?"

"Good point."

The Melas Oneiros chuckled as it transformed into another black glob. The glob enlarged and took form. Out of the inky blackness of the dark sphere came the shape of a hellhound – but this was no ordinary hellhound. Even though it was on all fours, it was as big as a standing grizzly bear and it would even be bigger if it were to stand on two legs. On its back were countless arrows and even swords – all impaled into its back but it didn't seemed to be bothered by the weapons sticking out of its body. There was a big scar across its face and passing through its eye, rendering one eye blind. It howled and the crystalline cavern shook.

"Can't we just talk about this?" Nathan suggested; his face pale and his hands shaking.

The hellhound pounced and pinned him to the crystal floor, its slobber dropping from its maw and falling to his face.

Lumina nocked a magically-enchanted fire arrow into her bow and released the drawstring. The arrow hit the bear's back and lit its fur. It did a 'roll over' to extinguish the flame, but it seemed like a stupid move. The blades on its back just went in deeper and its back began to bleed. That gave her an idea.

"Nathan! Make it ram the walls." Lumina ordered and he shot to his feet.

"He-hey! You, mutt." He motioned a taunt. "O-over here."

The hellhound ran toward him, its head lowered as if ready to slam him into a bloody pulp on the wall. Nathan jumped aside at the last moment and the hellhound's head slammed against the crystalline wall, disorienting it. Nathan ran to the wall again and whistled to gain the hellhound's attention. It didn't even turn around to face him – it just ran sideways to try and squish him with its back. Nathan rolled to evade the massive hellhound and its back collided with the wall, sending the weapons deeper into its flesh and making the bleeding worsen. The weapons on its back were so deep in that only the bloody hilts showed.

It howled another time, black blood dripping from its maw. It kept staggering when moving which meant that it was weakening. Lumina nocked her last fire arrow into her bow and let the arrow fly. It hit the monster's blind eye and flames radiated from the point where the shaft stuck out of its face. The hellhound was engulfed by the crimson flames, smoke and embers rising from the burning monster, the air tinged with the smell of burning monster flesh and seared steak. It stopped, dropped and rolled, sending the weapons into its back, the hilts completely inside its back and the blades sticking out of its stomach. It collapsed and disintegrated into ashes and monster dust and glowing embers.

_There is one more dream to be cleansed, hurry!_ The voice of the Shaper said. A bright light engulfed her and then dimmed to nothing but vast darkness.

* * *

Lumina found herself in a graveyard.

The place was covered in a thick fog, obscuring everything in a veil of mist. Even she couldn't see through the fog, and she was a Hunter. This is the last dream she'll have to clear and she'll be done. She recalled whose dreams she's been into. Kam's, Alex's, Miguel's, Astrid's, Nathan's, and all that was left now was Veronica's. She's a daughter of Ares – she expects her nightmare to be the most twisted one.

"Veronica?" She called out, expecting the daughter of Ares to answer. "Veronica, where are you?"

A hand shot out from behind a gravestone and pulled her down behind it. She found herself facing Veronica, a nervous look on her face. "Shh, they'll find us." She said as she looked around nervously.

"Who'll find us?" Lumina asked; her voice slightly quieter than a whisper. If a child of Ares looks nervous, things can't be good.

"The Reapers."

A distant voice came from the fog. It was barely a whisper and as she listened closer, she noticed that the voice was actually _voices_ talking in unison. They were whispering nonsense and gibberish, but the undertone made the pointless whispering creepy instead of hilarious. Veronica put her finger up to her lips – a gesture that told her to keep quiet. Moments later, the whispering subsided and she peeked over the gravestone to check for the presence of whatever she was scared of. "They're gone."

"What exactly are _they?_"

"The embodiments of death."

A shape moved across the fog, its silhouette barely visible inside the veil of mist. It was a tall figure draped in black, its long, black, shredded and tattered robe flowing behind it as it moved across the place. Its hands were pale, skinny and gnarled and its face was hidden behind a black hood. The mist parted briefly to reveal that it was hovering a good two inches from the ground, the vegetation underneath it turning gray and wilting. Lumina tried to imagine what would happen if she stood close to one of those things. Even from her hiding spot, she could feel its cold aura sucking away her life bit by bit. It soon disappeared into the mist but its creepy whispers still hung on the air.

"What do we do now?" Veronica asked; her voice surprisingly quiet for a child of Ares.

"We find that Melas Oneiros and kill it." Lumina answered. Veronica had a confused expression on her face. "Nightmare Spirit." She explained. Veronica nodded in understanding.

"Where do we start looking?" Veronica asked.

Lumina looked around. Nothing but gravestones, dead plants and reapers for as far as the eye could see. She kept looking and eventually found the silhouette of a structure in the mist. She had a suspicion that the Melas Oneiros was hiding in there.

"Right there." She pointed at the structure. Veronica squinted to try and see past the fog and she eventually found what she was pointing at.

"I see it. How're we gonna get to it?" Veronica looked around. The silhouettes of Reapers were barely visible inside the dense fog. "We're surrounded by those things with no known way to kill them."

"Well there has to be some way to kill them."

"They're the embodiments of death! How do you expect-"

The whispering voices became louder. Veronica looked pale and nervous as the whispering intensified. Soon, there was the sound of heavy breathing. A pale hand reached from behind the headstone which they used as cover and reached for Veronica. Her face paled and her teeth chattered.

"Time to run!" Lumina shot to her feet and grabbed Veronica by the wrist before the Reaper's hand even touched her. She and Veronica ran through the graveyard, weaving through gravestones and hiding behind big ones to try to escape the sight of the Reaper who was hot on their trail.

Lumina nocked an arrow into her bow and peeked over the headstone. The reaper's silhouette was approaching them, the whispering getting louder and louder by the second. She waited until she could see the Reaper's face so she has a clear shot of the monster, but she never saw its face. Its face was nothing; it was literally a black nothing – an abyss which sucked their life force out of their bodies bit by bit. Lumina released the drawstring and hit the reaper where its face was supposed to be. It staggered back and shrieked as it clawed at its 'face' and tried to pull out the arrow.

It pulled out the arrow and turned to them. The arrow's wooden shaft decayed in its grasp and it tossed it aside. They couldn't be killed by her arrows, so she tried fire. She gathered dead leaves, grass and dry twigs and lit a fire like she did in Nathan's dream. She used the fire to make burning arrows which she nocked into her bow and fired. The flaming arrow whizzed through the air, hitting the Reaper square in the 'face.' Nothing happened. The fire was extinguished by the cold darkness it emanated, but it still impaled its head. It shrieked again as it tried to pull out the arrow from the void under its hood.

"What? Can't anything kill these things?" She exclaimed. The Reaper pulled the arrow from its face and regarded her with that deep abyss under its black hood.

Veronica pulled a crossbow from out of nowhere and fired a crossbow bolt at the Reaper. Nothing happened. "I'm all out of ideas." Veronica said in surrender and turned to face Lumina. "Got a plan?"

The Reaper shrieked again. "Yeah. Run."

* * *

They've been running from the Reaper for a long time now, hiding behind rocks or gravestones but the death embodiment just managed to find them again. Somehow, she knew that she had to get to the structure in the distance, but she just doesn't know how to get past the Reapers. There were so many of them that if they tried to make a run for it, they would have been caught by them and killed.

"They're gonna catch up on us…" Veronica panted. She was leaning on a gravestone, her face and arms beaded with sweat from running. Even Lumina was sweating. Her legs felt like lead after running away from the monsters for such a long time that she lost count. The Reapers always found them, no matter where they hid, so they took their sweet time and rested every time they find a hiding spot. They'll rest until the Reaper finds them again, and then they run. It was just like playing a game of hide-and-go-seek and tag, but with a deadly twist.

"We have to get to that thing in the distance." Lumina looked at the silhouette again. "I have a hunch that the Melas Oneiros is there."

The Reaper's whispers got louder and louder – a bad omen. Soon after, its hooded 'face' appeared from behind the headstone Veronica was leaning on, its pale, shriveled hands reaching out to grab her and drag her all the way to hell.

"Veronica, behind you!" Veronica turned and scrambled away. Lumina nocked an arrow and fired. She knew that the arrow won't do anything to hurt it, but shooting the face always gives them a head start at running away.

Instead of hitting the face, though, it hit its chest. It clutched its chest and kept staggering as it tried to pull out the silver arrow. Lumina was getting ready to run away when something unexpected happened.

It dropped something in its agony: a curved blade about 6 inches long, the blackened metal emanating a cold darkness of death. She realized that it was composed of stygian iron. Veronica picked up the scythe-like blade and in an attempt to kill the reaper, she swung the curved, scythe-like blade and cut off the head of the reaper. Its decapitated head lopped to the ground with a loud final shriek. Tendrils of darkness burst from the amputated neck and the reaper's corpse collapsed to the ground and turned to dust later on.

Veronica studied the curved blade. "So that's how you kill 'em."

The whispering noises escalated to shouting and shrieking. "Looks like you'll have a lot more to kill."

Veronica paled. Even though she had a weapon that could kill the Reapers, they were still heavily outnumbered. The Reapers will kill them in a short amount of time should they engage that large army of death embodiments who can kill them with a touch.

"What do we do now?" Veronica asked; terror in her voice.

"We run, that's what." Lumina answered and took off, Veronica sprinting behind her to catch up.

The reapers hovered over the ground and gave them pursuit, their whispers now sounding like a swarm of angry bees. There were some of the reapers who came at them from a flank, but fortunately, Veronica quickly killed them with the stygian iron blade she 'borrowed.'

They were headed for the structure in the mist for it may be where the Melas Oneiros is hiding. They were getting tired and their legs were beginning to feel like lead, but reapers didn't look exhausted from chasing them at all. They kept their constant pace and followed them, knowing that they would eventually give up and they can kill them.

At least the structure they were trying to get to was getting closer. She could see the structure more clearly. It was a mausoleum constructed of white marble, the ionic columns cracked, crumbling and wrapped with dead ivy. The marble was crumbling and the wooden door was old and moldy. Lumina reached for the rusted doorknobs to open the doors to the mausoleum, but no matter how she tried, no matter how much she shook the door, it would not open, despite it looking old and weak. Veronica tried to kick it down, but it didn't work either. The door remained standing and blocking their way into the Melas Oneiros's chamber.

"Oh no." Veronica said as she shook the door to try to get it to open. "Oh no, oh no, oh no…"

"Here they come…"

The reapers were upon them, about seventy of the hooded figures approaching them, reaching towards them with their pale, shriveled hands. Lumina was going to die in her crewmate's subconscious, killed by imaginary manifests of death.

Veronica quit trying to open the door and charged at the reapers, scythe held high. "If I'm going to die, I would die in battle, not while running away!" Lumina admired her headstrong personality.

She herself decided to help in this endeavor. She nocked arrows into her bow and fired at the reaper's faces, making them stagger back and shrieked while trying to pull out the arrows stuck in their 'faces.' That left them completely vulnerable to Veronica's attacks. She slashed off the Reapers' heads and sang as she did so. "One little two little three little Reapers, four little five little six little Reapers…"

Lumina needed a weapon of her own, so she shot another arrow, but aimed at a Reaper's chest. She tried to do what she did earlier to get the Reaper to drop its blade. The arrow stuck out of its chest and it staggered, trying to remove the projectile from its chest. A scythe dropped from under its robe and Lumina ran to pick it up before the Reaper could reclaim it. She swung the blade in a wide arc and decapitated the reaper near the mausoleum's doors. Tendrils of darkness shot out of the amputated neck, but instead of dissipating, it flew to a big, circular, faceted opal set on the doorsill. The opal which was once white blackened a bit and she could hear something within the lock system moving. That's when she figured out how to open the mausoleum.

"Veronica, you have to kill them here!"

"I know! I'm trying!"

"No, I mean _here!_ Near the door!"

"Oh." Veronica ran to near the door and slashed off the head of another reaper. The darkness from its neck was absorbed by the stone and another clicking sound came from the door. Veronica slashed off more and more until the crystal was as black as onyx. The door clicked twelve times. Lumina tried the doorknob. It rotated. She pushed and the door opened, letting out the gray distortion that was the signature of the deeper subconscious. There was an open coffin in the mausoleum that was the center of the gray distortion. They just found the entrance to the Melas Oneiros's chamber. She jumped into the coffin and Veronica followed, leaving behind the swarm of death behind them.

* * *

They were in a cave made of red, quartz-like crystal. There were all kinds of weapons scattered across the place, floating in midair or buried into the crystalline walls.

There were images of Veronica's memories in the crystal walls. There were memories of her time in a casino with her mother, who was a dealer there, another showing her crying and running away from her home, another of her in the second Titanomachy, marching in the ranks of the campers, holding back hordes of monsters, another of her in the Capture-the-Flag, blocking Lumina and her team's progress and one that showed her enjoying the sweet life after that bet.

"What's that black crystal right there?" Veronica asked as she pointed at a vein of blackened quartz that led to a chamber at the far end of the cave – the Melas Oneiros's hiding place.

"The nightmare spirit." Lumina answered and walked towards the chamber, Veronica walking by her side, their weapons ready to face whatever horrible form the Melas Oneiros took.

* * *

The Melas Oneiros was standing in the middle of the black quartz chamber, its hands clasped behind its back.

On the walls of the black chamber was an image of Veronica finding a corpse and a couple of men with knives.

Veronica didn't even pay attention to the image on the wall, her attention was focused on the Melas Oneiros.

"You're the scoundrel causing all this?" She snarled.

"If by _all this_, you mean the nightmare, then, yes. I am the cause of all this."

Veronica charged, her spear leveled in front of her, ready to impale the Melas Oneiros. The Nightmare Spirit caught the spear by the shaft and tugged, forcing Veronica to let go of the spear. The nightmare spirit assumed its dark glob form and prepared to shapeshift.

The dark sphere grew black wings and sprouted arms, legs and a head. The complexion of its new form was a teakwood color, his hair black and flowing, his arms muscular and his eyes as gold as honey. Its new form was that of Thanatos, the god of death. Veronica was scared of death.

She looked like she didn't at all care who he was. She picked up her spear and charged again, aiming for the pseudo-Thanatos. It flew up and hovered over the crystalline floor. "You missed." Veronica jabbed her spear again and again, but she kept missing. The pseudo-Thanatos kept evading her every strike. But not Lumina's She nocked an arrow into her bow and fired, the arrow hitting the Melas Oneiros square in the back. It fell to the ground, black blood gushing from the spot between its wings. She pulled out her hand fans and cut off the wings of the Melas Oneiros, leaving it disabled and unable to fly away.

Veronica slowly approached the Nightmare Spirit and raised her spear. Without a word, she thrust her spear, impaling the Melas Oneiros's neck and ending it. It was reduced to a pile of black monster dust and feathers.

_Daughter of Artemis, you have done your job._ The voice of Morpheus said with a hint of applause in his tone. _I shall pull you out of the subconscious. Wait there._

A familiar white light surrounded her and intensified until everything around her was white. Then, as expected, the white light dissipated, leaving her in an unknown darkness.

* * *

She awoke and found herself lying on the wooden floor of the Argo II's deck one, Morpheus standing over her.

She stood up and looked around. All of her crewmates weren't screaming anymore and they were sleeping soundly.

"Let them be." Morpheus said. "They will need to complete their sleep to flush out whatever remained of the Melas Oneiroi."

"How long was I out?" She asked the Shaper.

"About an hour, in mortal time."

So she still had time to bask in the moonlight, which was good. She needed her beauty moonbathing session. Then she remembered one thing.

"Lord Morpheus, we need to find Thanatos. Do you have any idea where he is?"

He shook his head. "No. But, my father does, and I will lead you to him. Think of this as a favor for a favor."

"Great. Where is he?"

Morpheus looked around. "I will tell you where he is the next time you dream. Until then, daughter of Artemis." He flickered out and eventually disappeared.

Lumina inspected deck one. All of her friends were asleep and the clock read 11:30, which meant she could still continue her moonbathing.

"Those directions could just wait until tomorrow." Lumina said as she climbed up the staircase that connected the upper and lower decks and continued sitting in the silver light of the full moon.

* * *

_ExiXIII: _**Try as you might, you won't be able to find 'Reapers' in Greek Myth. I made them up to match the description given to me by Veronica's owner, Wapomeo Huntress.**


End file.
